John (given name)
Encyclopedia
John is a masculine given name
in the English language
. The name is derived from the Latin
Ioannes, Iohannes, which is in turn a form of the Greek
, Iōánnēs. This Greek name is a form of the Hebrew
name , , which means "God is generous". There are numerous forms of the name in different languages.
It is among the most common given names in Anglophone
and Europe
an countries; traditionally, it was the most common, although it has not been since the latter half of the 20th century. John owes its unique popularity to the vast number of Emperors, Kings
, Popes and Patriarchs that have borne the name; and also to two highly revered saints, John the Baptist
and the apostle John, who wrote the Book of Revelation
. Initially, it was a favorite name among the Greeks
but it flourished in all of Europe after the First Crusade
.
is merciful". Yochanan was the name of several important rabbi
s 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. and before. John Hyrcanus
, was the first king of the Hasmonean Dynasty, and was the nephew of Judas Maccabeus
. It was the given name of Yochanan ben Zechariah, a Jewish prophet known in English as John the Baptist
.
The New Testament
was written in Greek, and the Hebrew name was adapted in Greek as , Iōannēs. The name Ioannes became extremely popular among the early Christians, and bearers include such noted members of the early church as Ioannes Chrysostomos
.
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 Italian
Giovanni (also Gianni, Gian and other derivates), the Germanic
Johann (also Jannis, Jan, Hans), the Hungarian
János, and the Slavic languages
Ivan, Jan, Ján, Honza, Janez and Jovan, 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
Seán. 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 medieval Portuguese
Juo/Joane (now João) and Ivo. In Gaul
, it became the Old French Jehan and later Jean . In the Occitano-Romance
area it became Joan (feminine, Joana) and Jan in Occitan and Catalan
, from older Iouan and Iohan. In Albanian
, Gjon, or either Gjin is used for males. In Welsh
, the name John is rendered as Ieuan , and as Ifan or Ianto . Ifan eventually became rendered into English as Evan
.
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.
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. In modern times John is the most common name in the United States, borne as a first or middle name by 39.93 people per thousand; of these, 72.86% have it as the given name. When the statistics of the name are compared to the population statistics of America, the approximate number of people named John in the USA is 12,328,091 and the number of Johns in the USA is increasing by 104,925 each year.
It was also long the most common male name in the United Kingdom
, but by 2004 it had fallen out of the top 50 names for newborn boys in England and Wales
. 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.
In the UK, the name John has not been a popular name for members of the royal household. King John
signed the Magna Carta
in 1215; Prince John
, the youngest son of Edward VII, died shortly after birth; and The Prince John
, the youngest son of George V
, suffered from epilepsy
and died in his sleep at age 13. The name John has therefore been avoided as unlucky by the British Royal Family
. 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.
. John comes from the Hebrew name Yôḥānnān, whereas Jonathan derives from the Hebrew יוֹנָתָן Yônāṯān, which means "Gift from the Lord" and thus is a longer version of Nathan.
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The name is derived from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
Ioannes, Iohannes, which is in turn a form of the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, Iōánnēs. This Greek name is a form of the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
name , , which means "God is generous". There are numerous forms of the name in different languages.
It is among the most common given names in Anglophone
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries; traditionally, it was the most common, although it has not been since the latter half of the 20th century. John owes its unique popularity to the vast number of Emperors, Kings
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
, Popes and Patriarchs that have borne the name; and also to two highly revered saints, John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
and the apostle John, who wrote the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
. Initially, it was a favorite name among the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
but it flourished in all of Europe after the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
.
Origins
The name John derives via Latin and Greek from the Hebrew name (, also transliterated Yochanan), a short form of the long name Yehochanan, meaning "YahwehYahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
is merciful". Yochanan was the name of several important rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s in the Second Temple Period
Second Temple period
The Second Temple period , in Jewish history, is the period between 530 BCE and 70 CE, when the Second Temple of Jerusalem existed. It ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Temple's destruction....
in Israel, such as Yochanan ben Zakai
Yochanan ben Zakai
Johanan ben Zakai , also known as Johanan B. Zakkai was one of the tannaim, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah. He is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures of his time...
and Yochanan ben Nuri
Yochanan ben Nuri
Yochanan ben Nuri was a tanna of the 1st and 2nd centuries, studied under the watch of Rabban Gamliel of Yavne and senior of Akiba . A great halakist, always provided with satisfactory answers to all questions, he was familiarly called "pedler's basket" or "bundle of halakot" Yochanan ben Nuri...
.
The name had gained popularity among Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
and Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
by the time the area became a province of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in 6 A.D. and before. John Hyrcanus
John Hyrcanus
John Hyrcanus was a Hasmonean leader of the 2nd century BC.-Name:...
, was the first king of the Hasmonean Dynasty, and was the nephew of Judas Maccabeus
Judas Maccabeus
Judah Maccabee was a Kohen and a son of the Jewish priest Mattathias...
. It was the given name of Yochanan ben Zechariah, a Jewish prophet known in English as John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
.
The New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
was written in Greek, and the Hebrew name was adapted in Greek as , Iōannēs. The name Ioannes became extremely popular among the early Christians, and bearers include such noted members of the early church as Ioannes Chrysostomos
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
.
Continental Europe
The name came into use in other parts of the Christianized Roman Empire. 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 .The local populations in these areas of the Roman Empire soon changed Roman names to fit their own dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
, which included dropping the suffixes -us and -es from such names. In the Roman sphere of influence, Johannes became the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
Giovanni (also Gianni, Gian and other derivates), the Germanic
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Johann (also Jannis, Jan, Hans), the Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
János, and the Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
Ivan, Jan, Ján, Honza, Janez and Jovan, and Ion in the area on the Black Sea that is now Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. On the outskirts of the Empire in the newly converted Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
it became the Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
Seán. In some cases, the pronunciation of the original initial "Y"/"I" also changed to variants of "J", so that in Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
the name eventually changed to the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Juan and the medieval Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
Juo/Joane (now João) and Ivo. In Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, it became the Old French Jehan and later Jean . In the Occitano-Romance
Occitano-Romance languages
The Occitano-Romance branch of Romance languages encompasses the dialects pertaining to the Occitan and the Catalan languages situated in France , Spain , Andorra, Monaco, parts of Italy , and historically in the County of Tripoli and the...
area it became Joan (feminine, Joana) and Jan in Occitan and Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, from older Iouan and Iohan. In Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
, Gjon, or either Gjin is used for males. In Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
, the name John is rendered as Ieuan , and as Ifan or Ianto . Ifan eventually became rendered into English as Evan
Evan
Evan is a Welsh masculine given name, although it has on the rare occasion been given to girls as well, as with actress Evan Rachel Wood. The name is derived from "lefan", one of the other Welsh forms of John and is closely related to "Ivan", "Ian", and "Juan"; the name John is derived from the...
.
In English-speaking countries
In the 11th century the NormanNormandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
duke William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and brought his French knights and their dialect with him. In England, the French name Jean
Jean (male given name)
On the European continent and in all French-speaking countries, Jean, pronounced , is a male name derived from the Old French Jehan. The name ultimately drives from Hebrew. See John for more details. The female equivalent is Jeanne, pronounced , and derives from the Old French Jehanne...
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.
Name statistics
John has been a common given name in English speaking countries, and either it or WilliamWilliam (name)
William is a popular given name of old Germanic origin. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era...
was the number one name in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and English speaking North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
from around 1550 until the middle of the twentieth century.
John was the most popular name given to male infants in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
's list of names given in 2006. In modern times John is the most common name in the United States, borne as a first or middle name by 39.93 people per thousand; of these, 72.86% have it as the given name. When the statistics of the name are compared to the population statistics of America, the approximate number of people named John in the USA is 12,328,091 and the number of Johns in the USA is increasing by 104,925 each year.
It was also long the most common male name in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, but by 2004 it had fallen out of the top 50 names for newborn boys in England and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. By contrast Jack
Jack (name)
Jack is a male given name, although in very rare cases it can be used as a female given name, and sometimes as a surname.In English it is traditionally used as the diminutive form of the name John, though it is also often given as a proper name in its own right.The name Jack is unique in the...
, which was a nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
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.
In the UK, the name John has not been a popular name for members of the royal household. King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
signed the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
in 1215; Prince John
Prince Alexander John of Wales
Prince Alexander John Charles Albert of Wales was the youngest son and sixth child of Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Alexandra, Princess of Wales and grandson of Queen Victoria and Christian IX of Denmark.-Life:Prince Alexander John Charles Albert of Wales was born...
, the youngest son of Edward VII, died shortly after birth; and The Prince John
Prince John of the United Kingdom
The Prince John was a member of the British Royal Family, the youngest son of King George V and Queen Mary. The Prince had epilepsy and consequently was largely hidden from the public eye.-Early life:...
, the youngest son of George V
George V
George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
, suffered from epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
and died in his sleep at age 13. The name John has therefore been avoided as unlucky by the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
. It was reported that Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
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 often incorrectly considered to be a short form of Jonathan, especially in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. John comes from the Hebrew name Yôḥānnān, whereas Jonathan derives from the Hebrew יוֹנָתָן Yônāṯān, which means "Gift from the Lord" and thus is a longer version of Nathan.
In other languages
| language | masculine form | feminine form |
| Afrikaans Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape... |
Jan, Johan, Johannes | |
| Albanian Albanian language Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece... |
Gjon, Gjin | |
| Amharic | ዮሐንስ (Yoḥännǝs) | |
| Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... |
يحيى (Yaḥyā, Qurāʾnic), يوحنا (Yūḥannā, Biblical) | |
| Aramaic Syriac language Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from... |
ܝܘܚܢܢ (Yuhanon) | |
| Aragonese Aragonese language Aragonese is a Romance language now spoken in a number of local varieties by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the Aragón River, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in Aragon, Spain... |
Chuan | |
| Armenian Armenian language The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora... |
Հովհաննես (Hovhannes) | |
| Asturian Asturian language Asturian is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the Spanish Region of Asturias by the Asturian people... |
Xuan | |
| Basque Basque language Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories... |
Jon, Yon, Ion, Manez, Ganix, Joanes | |
| Belarusian Belarusian language The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people... |
Янка (Yanka), Янэк (Yanek), Ясь (Yas'), Iван (Ivan) | Янiна (Yanina) |
| Bosnian Bosnian language Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina.... |
Ivan | |
| Breton Breton language Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as... |
Yann | |
| Bulgarian Bulgarian language Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the... |
Иван (Ivan), Йоан (Yoan) | Ивана (Ivana), Иванка (Ivanka), Йоана (Yoana), Йоанна (Yoanna), Йоанка (Yoanka) |
| Catalan Catalan language Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island... |
Joan | Joana |
| Chinese Chinese language The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages... |
||
| Corsican Corsican language Corsican is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken and written on the islands of Corsica and northern Sardinia . Corsican is the traditional native language of the Corsican people, and was long the vernacular language alongside the Italian, official language in Corsica until 1859, which was... |
Ghjuvanni | |
| Croatian Croatian language Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries... |
Ivan, Ivo, Ive, Ivica, Ivano, Ivanko, Janko | Ivana, Iva, Ivanka, Ivančica |
| Czech Czech language Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century... |
Jan, Honza | Jana |
| Danish Danish language Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language... |
Hans, Jens, Jan, Jon, Johan, Johannes | Hanne, Johanne |
| Dutch Dutch language Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second... |
Hannes, Hans, Jan, Johan, Johann, Johannes | Jantje |
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
John, Ewan, Sean, Shawn, Johnny, Jack, Ian, Evan | Jonn, Joanna, Joan, Joanne, Jan, Jane, Jayne, Janet, Janette, Jeanette, Janice, Jean, Yoanna |
| Esperanto Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887... |
Johano | |
| Estonian Estonian language Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities... |
Jaan, Juhan, Juho, Janno, Jukk, Jaanus, Hannes, Hans | |
| Extremaduran Extremaduran language Extremaduran is a Romance language, spoken by several hundred thousand people in Spain, in an area covering the north-western part of the autonomous community of Extremadura and adjoining areas in the province of Salamanca.... |
Huan | |
| Faroese Faroese language Faroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere... |
Jógvan | |
| Filipino Filipino language This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:... |
Juan | Juana |
| Finnish Finnish language Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a... |
Hannes, Hannu, Jani, Janne, Johannes, Juha, Juho, Juhani | |
| French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
Jean, Jehan (outdated) | Jeanne, Jeannette (short), Jehane (outdated) |
| Galician Galician language Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and... |
Xoán, Xan | |
| Georgian Georgian language Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad... |
იოანე (Ioane) | |
| German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... |
Hans, Hannes, Johannes, Johann, Jan | Jana, Janina, Johanna, Hanna, Hanne |
| Greek Greek language Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;... |
Ιωάννης (Ioannis), Γιάννης(Yiannis, sometines Giannis) | Ιωάννα (Ioanna), Γιάννα (Yianna, sometimes Gianna) |
| Guaraní Guaraní language Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí–Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and half of... |
Huã | |
| Hakka | Yok-Hon | |
| Hebrew Hebrew language Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such... |
יוחנן (Yôḥānān) | יוחנה (Yôḥannā) |
| Hindi | योहन | |
| Hungarian Hungarian language Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe.... |
János | |
| Icelandic Icelandic language Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the... |
Jóhann, Jóhannes | |
| Indonesian Indonesian language Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries.... |
Yohannes, Yahya | |
| Irish Irish language Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of... |
Seán, Shaun, Shane/Seaghan, Eoin/Eoghan | |
| Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia... |
Giovanni, Gianni, Giannino, Ivan, Ivano, Ivo, Vanni, Nino, Vannino | Giovanna, Gianna, Giannina, Ivana, Iva, Nina, Vania |
| Japanese Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an... |
ジョン (Jon) | |
| Latin | Ióhannes | |
| Latvian Latvian language Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language... |
Jānis | |
| Lithuanian Lithuanian language Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they... |
Jonas | Janina, Jonė, Janė, Joana |
| Lombard | Giuàn | |
| Macedonian Macedonian language Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora... |
Јован (Jovan), Иван (Ivan), Jанe (Jane) | |
| Malayalam | യോഹനൊന് (Yoohanon) | |
| Maltese Maltese language Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic... |
Ġwanni | |
| Norwegian Norwegian language Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language... |
Jon, Johan, Johannes | |
| Persian Persian language Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... |
Yohannan | |
| Piedmontese Piedmontese language Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 2 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Northern Italian group . It is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, including French, Occitan, and Catalan.Many European and... |
Gioann | |
| Polish Polish language Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries... |
Jan | Janina |
| Portuguese Portuguese language Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095... |
João, Ivo | Joana |
| Romanian Romanian language Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova... |
Ion, Ioan, Ionuţ, Ionel, Ionică | Ioana |
| Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... |
Иван (Ivan), Ян (Yan), Иоанн (Ioann, Hebrew's form) | Яна (Yana), Жaннa (Janna), Иoaннa (Yoanna, Hebrew's form) |
| Samogitian | Juons | |
| Sardinian Sardinian language Sardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum.... |
Giuanni | |
| Scottish Gaelic | Iain, Ian | |
| Serbian Serbian language Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries.... |
Јован (Jovan), Иван (Ivan) | Јована (Jovana), Ивана (Ivana) |
| Sicilian Sicilian language Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects make up the Extreme-Southern Italian language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento ; and Campania, on the Italian mainland, where it is... |
Giuvanni | |
| Slovak Slovak language Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people... |
Ján, Ivan | Jana, Ivana, Ivona |
| Slovene | Janez, Ivan, Ivo, Jan, Janko, Anže, Anžej | |
| Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... |
Juan, Ivan | Juana, Juanita |
| Swedish Swedish language Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish... |
Jan, Jon, Johan, Johannes, Hannes, Hans | Johanna, Joanna, Jenny, Jennie, Jennika, Jennifer, Hanna |
| Syriac Syriac language Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from... |
ܝܘܚܢܢ (Yoḥannan), ܚܢܐ (Ḥanna), ܐܝܘܢ (Ewan) | |
| Tongan Tongan language Tongan is an Austronesian language spoken in Tonga. It has around 200,000 speakers and is a national language of Tonga. It is a VSO language.-Related languages:... |
Sione | |
| Tamil Tamil language Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore... |
Arul | |
| Turkish Turkish language Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,... |
Yahya, Yuhanna, Jan | |
| Ukrainian Ukrainian language Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet.... |
Іван (Ivan), Іванко (Ivanko) | |
| Uzbek Uzbek language Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia... |
Yahyo | |
| Tiếng Việt Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to:* Of, from, or related to Vietnam, the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia.** Of, from, or related to the former country of North Vietnam** Of, from, or related to the former country of South Vietnam... |
Gio-an | |
| Welsh Welsh language Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa... |
Ioan, Siôn, Ieuan, Evan, Ifan |