John (given name)

John
Pronunciation	/ˈdʒɒn/, /ˈdʒɑn/)
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/name	Hebrew (via Latin and Greek)
Meaning	"Yahweh is gracious"

John is an English masculine given name.

Origins

The name John is derived, via Latin and Greek, from the Hebrew name Yochanan (יוחנן) meaning "Yahweh is gracious". ^[1] Yochanan was the name of several important Jewish rabbis in the Second Temple Period in Israel, such as Yochanan ben Zakai and Yochanan ben Nuri.

The name had gained popularity among Jews in Judea and Galilee by the time the area became a province of the Roman Empire in 6 A.D. It was the given name of Yochanan ben Zechariah, a Jewish prophet known in English as John the Baptist. It was also the given name of Yochanan ben Zibhdi, a fisherman from Galilee who became one of the favorite students (called disciples) of Jesus Christ and so is known in English as John the Apostle. Because Yochanan also wrote one of the four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ called gospels, the Gospel of St. John, he is also known as John the Evangelist.

The texts that tell of the lives of both these men named Yochanan were written in Greek, and their name was adapted in Greek as Ἰωάννης, Iōannēs (pronounced YIO-an-NES). The name Ioannes became extremely popular among the early Christians, and bearers include such noted members of the early church as Ioannes Chrysostomos and the Ioannes who wrote the Book of Revelation.

Because of the great respect Christians had for these men, the name came into use in other parts of the Christianized Roman Empire, even in remoter parts such as Gaul and Britain. The Western areas of the Roman Empire did not, however, speak Greek like the areas in the East. Instead, they spoke Latin. Accordingly, in the Western part of the Roman Empire the name was Latinized as Iohannes (pronounced like the Greek).

The local populations in these areas of the Roman Empire soon changed Roman names to fit their own dialect, which included dropping the suffixes -us and -es from such names. In the Roman sphere of influence, Johannes became the Germanic Johann, for example, the Slavic languages Ivan, and Ion in the area on the Black Sea that is now Romania. On the outskirts of the Empire in the newly converted Ireland it became the Irish Eoin. In some cases, the pronunciation of the original initial "Y"/"I" also changed to variants of "J", so that in Iberia the name eventually changed to the Spanish Juan and the Portuguese Juo and Ivo (now João). In Gaul, it became the Old French Jehan and later Jean (pronounced /ʒɑ̃/).

In the 11th century the French duke William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England and brought his French knights and their dialect with him. In England, the French name Jean came to be pronounced like the current name John, though prior to the adoption into English of the letter 'J', the letter 'I' was used. Seventeenth Century English texts still spelled the name Iohn. Since then, it has been spelled in its current form, John.

In English speaking countries

Since the time of the Crusades, John has been a common given name in English speaking countries, and either it or William was the number one name in England and English speaking North America from around 1550 until the middle of the twentieth century. John was the most popular name given to male infants in the United States until 1924, and though its use has fallen off gradually since then, John was still the 20th most common name for boys on the Social Security Administration's list of names given in 2006.^[2] It was also long the most common male name in the UK, but by 2004 it had fallen out of the top 50 names for newborn boys in England and Wales.^[3] By contrast Jack, which was a nickname for John but is established as a name in its own right, was the most popular name given to newborn boys in England and Wales every year from 1995 to 2005.^[3]^[4]

In Great Britain, the name John has not been a popular name for members of the royal household, however. King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215; Prince Alexander John, the youngest son of King Edward VII, died shortly after birth, and Prince John, the youngest son of King George V, died in his sleep in 1919. As such, the name John has been considered unlucky by the British Royal Family and its use avoided. It was reported that Diana, Princess of Wales wished to name her elder son "John", after her own father, but was prevented from doing so by royal tradition.

Common mistakes

Because the name Jonathan is sometimes abbreviated as Jon, John is sometimes falsely considered to be a short form of Jonathan, especially in the United States. John is a variation of the Hebrew name Yôḥānnān, whereas Jonathan derives from the Hebrew יוֹנָתָן Yônāṯān, which means "Gift from Yahweh" and thus is a longer version of Nathan.

Alternate forms

Other language forms

Juan (Spanish / Filipino)
Ean (Manx)
Eoin (Irish)
Evan (Anglicised form of Welsh Ieuan, Efan, or Ifan)
Eoin (Scottish Gaelic (Biblical form))
Gino, (Italian)
Gjon (Albania)
Giuàn (Western Lombard)
Ġwanni, Ġwann, Ġanni (Maltese)
Հովհաննես (Hovhannes) (Armenian)
Iain (Scottish Gaelic (common form))
Ιωάννης, Γιάννης (Ioannis, Giannis) (Greek)
Ion (Romanian)
Ivan (Croatian, Russian and other Slavic language nations)
Iwan (Polish, Welsh)
Jaan (Estonian)
Jaanus (Estonian)
Jan (Belarusian, Polish, Czech, German, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Faroese)
Ján (Slovak)
Janez (Slovenian)
Jani (Finnish)
Jānis (Latvian)
János (Hungarian)
Janusz (Polish)
Jowan (Cornish)
Jean (French)
Jens (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish)
Jevan (Anglicisation of Efan)
Joan (Catalan)
João (Portuguese)
Yohannan (Persian)
Joanes (Basque)
Jógvan (Faroese)
Johan (Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, German, Faroese)
Johann (Germanic: German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch)
Johannes (Germanic: German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch)
Jonn (Norwegian, Swedish)
Yohanes (Indonesian - especially among Catholics)
Jón (Icelandic, Faroese)
Jonas (Lithuanian, Swedish)
Joni (Fijian)
Jovan (Serbian)
Juhan (Estonian, Finnish)
Juho (Estonian, Finnish)
Seán (Irish Seán, after the French Jean)
Shane (Anglicised form of Seán)
Shaun (Anglicised form of Seán)
Shawn (Anglicised form of Seán)
Shon (Israeli Hebrew) שון (from Shawn)
Siôn (Welsh)
Йоан (Bulgarian Ioan, form of Latin Ioannes)
Yann (Breton)
Yahya (Arabic: يحيى) Muslim version of John, also used by Protestant Christians in Indonesia
Yohanu (Telugu)
Yohanes (Eritrean, Ewe)
Yohannan (Malayalam)
Yohani (Kirundi)
Yohanna (Aramaic: Youkanna)(Arabic: يوحنا) the Arabic/ Aramaic language derivative used by Christians of the Levant.
Yosh (Polish)

Feminine forms

Gina (Italian)
Йоана ( Ioana , Yoana ) (Bulgarian)
Ivana (Croatian)
Jaana (Estonian)
Jana (Czech, Slovak)
Janina (Polish)
Jane (English)
Janet, Janice, both shortened as "Jan"
Jean
Jeanne (French)
Jeanette (French, adopted as an English name)
Joan
Joana (Portuguese, Catalan and Basque)
Joanne
Johanna
Jóhanna (Icelandic, Faroese)
Johanne (Norwegian, Danish)
Jovana (Serbian)
Juana (Spanish)
Seonaid, Sinead, Seonag
Ιωάννα , Γιάννα ( Ioanna , Gianna ) (Greek)

Pet, diminutive and alternative forms

Hans (pet form of Johannes)
Hansel/Hänsel (Bavarian/Austrian diminutive of Hans)
Hasse (Very common pet form of Hans in Swedish)
Ivica, Ivo, Ivek (Croatian diminutives of Ivan)
Jack (Irish dimunitive of John)
Jock (Scottish dimunitive of John)
Jeník, Jenda, Jeníček, Honza, Honzík, Honzíček (Czech diminutives of Jan)
Jan, Jani, Janko (Slovenian diminutives of Janez)
Jancsi (Hungarian diminutive of János)
Johnny (English pet form of John)
Jonn (New English name for John)
Jovo, Jovica (Serbian diminutives of Jovan)
Juanita (Spanish feminine diminutive)
Juho (Estonian and Finnish)
Juku, Juss (Estonian dimunitive of Juhan)

References

[1] MFnames.com - Origin and Meaning of John

[2] Popular Baby Names

[babycentre-3] Top UK baby names 2004

[4] National Statistics

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