John (IPA: [dʒɒn] or [dʒɑn]) is a common English name for boys and men. 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 boys 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.^[1] 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.^[2] By contrast Jack, which was originally a nickname for John but is now 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.^[2][3]

In Great Britain, 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.

The name John derives from the Latin Johanne, simplified from Johannes, which derives from Greek Ἰωάννης, Iōannēs, in turn from Mishnaic Hebrew יוחנן Yôḥānān, Yohanan, during the Second Temple Period, after both John the Apostle and John the Baptist, with the original meaning being "Yahweh is gracious."

Johanne has variants: Iohann, Ion, and Ivan where v is pronounced as 'u' - note, the letter J was derived from I, and V from U: compare the Spanish, Juan, and Russian Ivan and the Portuguese Juo and Ivo (now João).

John was first used in England with the arrival of the Normans in the 11th century and has been in regular use in the English speaking world since the 16th century. Prior to the adoption into English of the letter 'J', the letter 'I' was used. Seventeenth Century English texts still spelt the name Iohn (compare the Romanian Ion).

Pet, diminutive, alternative and other language forms are:

• Jack
• Johnny/Johnnie
• Yohanna (arabic: يوحنا) the Arabic language derivative.
• Yahya (arabic: يحيى)
• Eoin (Irish language derivation of Seán; in Irish and Scottish Gaelic refers to the Apostle)
• Evan (Welsh a pre-Christian Celtic subsequently equated to John)
• Jevan (variation of Evan)
• Giovanni, Gianni (Italian)
• Ġwanni, Ġwann, Ġanni (Maltese)
• Jan (Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Slovak, German)
• Janez, diminutives: Jan, Jani, Janko (Slovenian)
• János (Hungarian)
• Johan (Dutch, Swedish)
• Jean (French)
• João (Portuguese)
• Johannes (Germanic: German, Danish, Swedish, Dutch)
• Johan(n) (variation of Johannes)
• Jón (Icelandic)
• Jovan (Serbian)
• Hans (pet form of Johannes)
• Hansel (Anglicized version of Hänsel)
• Hasse (Very common pet form of Hans in Swedish)
• Hänsel (Bavarian/Austrian diminutive of Hans)
• Juan (Spanish / Filipino)
• Juhani (Finnish)
• Ian (Scottish derived from Gaelic Iain)
• Ion (Romanian)
• Ivan (Bulgarian, Croatian, Russian and other Slavic language nations)
• Sean (Irish Seán, after the French Jean)
• Shaun (anglicised form of Seán)
• Shawn (anglicised form of Seán)
• Shon (Israeli Hebrew) שון (from Shawn)
• Yohani (Kirundi)
• Yohanes (Eritrean)
• Giuàn (Western Lombard)

Feminine forms are:

• Ioana
• Jana
• Jane
• Jeanne (French)
• Joanne
• Joan
• Johanna
• Jean
• Janice, Janet, both shortened as "Jan"
• Non-English variants adopted as English names include Jeanette
• Seonaid, Sinead, Seonag

Forms and transliterations of the name John

• Biblical Hebrew יהוחנן Yəhôḥānān
  • Biblical Hebrew יוחנן Yôḥānān
    • Amharic ዮሀንስ (Yohannəs)
    • Armenian Հովհանես (Hovhanes), diminutive: Հովիկ (Hovik)
    • Aramaic language
      • Malayalam (India) യോഹന്നാന് (Yohannan), ഉലഹന്നാന് (Ulahannan)
    • Arabic يحيى (Yaḥyā), يوحنا (Yuḥanna)
      • Turkish Yahya
      • Persian یحیی (Yahyā)
      • Azeri Yəhya, Yühənna
    • King James Version of the Bible Old Testament English Johanan
    • Septuagint Greek Ἰωάννης (Ioannis), Iōhannēs, Iōannēs, female Ἰωάννα (Ioanna)
      • Modern Greek Γιάννης (Yannis), Γιάννη (Yanni), Γιάννος (Yannos), diminutive Γιαννάκης (Yannakis), female Γιάννα (Yanna), female diminutive Γιαννούλα (Yannoula)
        • Bulgarian Яни, Янко, Йоан, Иван (Yani, Yanko, Ioan, Ivan), female Яна, Яница, Йоана, Ивана (Yana, Yanitsa, Ioana, Ivana)
      • Latin Ioannes, Joannes, feminine Ioanna, Joanna
        • Albanian Gjon
        • Asturian Xuan
        • Breton Yann
        • Catalan Joan, diminutive Jan, feminine Joana
        • Cornish Jehan, Jowan, Jowann
        • Galician Xoán
        • Germanic Johannes, Johann, Joann, feminine Johanna, Joanna
          • Danish/Dutch/Swedish Jan, Jonny, Johan
            • Afrikaans Jan, Johan
          • Estonian Jaan, Jaak
          • English John, diminutive Johnny, Jack, Jacky, in Scotland Jock
            • Māori, Hone
          • Esperanto Johano
          • Finnish Johannes, Juhana, Juhani, Juha, Juho, Jussi, Jukka, Hannes, Hannu, Janne, Jani, obsolete Juhannus (current meaning midsummer day, also the name day for names of this family), obsolete Juntti (current meaning hick), feminine Johanna, Jonna
          • French Jean, diminutive Jeannot, feminine Jeanne, feminine diminutive Jeannette
            • English feminine Jan, Jane, Joan, Jean, feminine diminutive Janet
            • Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic Seán (Anglicized as Eóin, and Shane), Seathan (Anglicized as Eathain, Iain, Ian, and Eóin), feminine Sine (Anglicized as Sheena), feminine diminutive (Jeanne) Sinéad, feminine diminutive (Jeannette) Siobhán
              • English Shawn(a), Shaun(a), Chaun(a)
                • Israeli Hebrew שון (Shon)
            • Welsh Siôn, feminine Siân
          • German Jan, Johann, Johannes, diminutive Hans, feminine Johanna
          • Germanic diminutive Hans
            • Czech informal Honza
          • Icelandic Jóhannes, diminutives: Jóhann, Jón, Jens, Hannes, Hans, feminine Jóhanna, Jensína, feminine diminutive Jóna, Hansína
          • Faroese Jóan(n)es, diminutives: Johan(n)/Jóhan(n), Jón, Janus/Jens, Hans, feminine: Jóhanna, Jensina, feminine diminutive Jona/Jóna, Hansina
          • Indonesian Yohanes
          • Latvian Jānis
          • Lithuanian Jonas
          • Polish Jan
            • Polish diminutive Janek, Jasiek, Jaś, Jasio
          • Romanian Iancu
          • Slovak Ján
          • Slovenian Janez, diminutive Anže, feminine Jana
        • Hungarian János, diminutives: Jani, Jancsi or by suffixing any of the previous with ka (i.e. Janika)
        • Interlingua Johannes, feminine Johanna
        • Italian Giovanni, feminine Giovanna
          • Italian diminutive Gian, Gianni, Nanni, Nino, feminine diminutive Gianna, Vanna, Nina
        • Japanese ヨハネ (Yohane) OR ジョン (Jon)
        • Korean 요한 (Yohan), 요환 (Yohwan)
        • Mandarin Chinese 約翰 Yuēhàn
        • Taiwanese Iok-hān (Protestant), Jio̍k-bōng (Catholic)
        • Portuguese João, feminine Joana
        • Spanish Juan, feminine Juana, diminutive feminine Juanita
        • Welsh Ieuan, Evan, Jones (surname), Ioan, Iwan, Owen, Owain
      • Old Slavonic Ιωанъ (Ioan), feminine Ioana
        • Belarusian Ян (Jan), Янка (Janka) and Іван (Ivan)
        • Bulgarian Йоан (Yoan), feminine Йоана (Yoana)
        • Bulgarian Иван (Ivan), feminine Ивана (Ivana)
        • Croatian Ivan, Ivo, Ivica, feminine Ivana, also Vanja, both feminine and masculine
        • Czech Jan (diminutive Jenda, Jeníček), feminine Jana (diminutive Janička)
        • Polish Jan, feminine Janina, Joanna
        • Romanian Ion, Ioan, diminutive Ionel, Ionuţ, Nelu, Ionică feminine Ioana, diminutive Oana
        • Russian Иван (Ivan), diminutive Ваня (Vanya), feminine Ивана (Ivana) (feminine form virtually nonexistent), Ivanov, Ivanovich (family name)
          • English Ewan, Evans (family name), Ivan
          • Spanish, Portuguese, Italian Ivan, Iván, feminine Ivana
          • Spanish (family name, Son of John/Ivan) Ibañez
        • Serbian Ivan, feminine Ivana, also Vanja, both feminine and masculine
        • Serbian Jovan, feminine Jovana or Jovanka
        • Slovak Ivan, feminine Ivana, Ivanka
        • Slovenian Ivan, feminine Ivana, also Vanja, both feminine and masculine
        • Ukrainian Іван (Ivan), diminutive Івась (Ivas'), Івасик, (Ivasyk), feminine Іванна (Ivanna)
    • Standard Hebrew יוחנן (Yoḥanan)
      • Israeli Hebrew Yochanan

References

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