John (given name)

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John /dʒɒn/ is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Latin Ioannes and Iohannes, which are forms of the Greek name Iōannēs (Ἰωάννης), originally borne by Hellenized Jews transliterating the Hebrew name Yohanan (יוֹחָנָן), "Graced by Yah", or Yehohanan (יְהוֹחָנָן), "Yahweh is Gracious". There are numerous forms of the name in different languages; these were formerly often simply translated as "John" in English but are increasingly left in their native forms (see sidebar).^[1]

It is among the most common given names in Anglophone and European 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 two highly revered saints, John the Baptist (forerunner of Jesus Christ) and the apostle John (traditionally considered the author of the Gospel of John); the name has since been chosen as the regnal or religious name of a vast number of emperors, kings, popes, and patriarchs. Initially, it was a favorite name among the Greeks but it flourished in all of Europe after the First Crusade.^[2]

Origins

The name John is a theophoric name originating from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), or in its longer form יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhôḥānān), meaning "YHWH has been gracious".^[3] Several obscure figures in the Old Testament bore this name, and it grew in popularity once borne by the high priest Johanan (fl. 407 BC) and especially by king John Hyrcanus (d. 104 BC). In the second temple period, it was the fifth most popular male name among Jews in Judaea^[4] and was borne by several important rabbis, such as Yochanan ben Zakai and Yochanan ben Nuri.

The name John in its Greek form Ἰωάννης (Iōannēs) features prominently in the New Testament, being borne by John the Baptist, John the Apostle, and several others; the Gospel of John, three epistles, and Revelation are each attributed to a "John". As a result, the name became immensely popular in Christian societies.

In the Latin-speaking regions of the Roman Empire, the name was Latinized as Johannes (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.

Romance derivatives

In the Roman sphere of influence, Johannes became the Italian Giovanni (also Gianni, Gian and other derivatives). In the Black Sea region, the name became the Romanian Ioan. In Iberia the name eventually changed to the Spanish Juan and the medieval Portuguese Juo/Joane/Joam (now João) and Ivo. In Gaul, it became the Old French Jehan (the 16th century John Calvin still spelled his name Jehan Cauvin) and later Jean (pronounced /ʒɑ̃/); the female form was Jehanne (the 15th century Joan of Arc still spelled her name Jehanne) and later Jeanne. In the Occitano-Romance area it became Joan (feminine, Joana) and Jan in Occitan and Catalan, from older Iouan and Iohan.

Germanic derivatives

The Germanic languages (including Dutch, German, English and Scandinavian) produced the masculine Johann (also Johan (Dutch), Joan,^[5] Jan (Dutch), Jannis, Hans (German, Dutch and Scandinavian), Jens (Danish and Frisian), Jóhannes, Jóhann, (Icelandic and Faroese))^[6][7] and the feminine Johanna (also the Dutch diminutives Johanneke, Hanneke, Janneke, and Joke). In England, the name John came from the Anglo-French language form Johan, itself from the Old French form Jehan. Prior to the standardization in English of the letter 'J', the letter 'I' was used interchangeably; following this shift, forms beginning in J- such as John began to be pronounced in their modern fashion with <dʒ> rather than <j> (y). Seventeenth-century English texts still spelled the name Iohn. Since then, it has been spelled in its current form, John. The feminine form changed from Jehanne to Joanne, Joan and Jo.

Celtic derivatives

In Welsh, the name John is rendered as Ieuan (pronounced as Yay-an or Yey-an), Ifan (pronounced IV-an), Ianto (pronounced as Yan-to), Ioan (pronounced as Yo-an) or Siôn (pronounced as Sh-on). Ifan eventually became rendered into English as Evan. In Irish it is written as Eoin (pronounced Oe-in) or Seán (pronounced Shawn). The latter is technically a Gaelicisation of the Norman-French 'Jean'. In some cases, the pronunciation of the original initial "Y"/"I" also changed to variants of "J", in Scotland it is Iain or Ian. These are not to be confused with Euan, Ewan, Ewen or Owen, that have a Celtic root rather than a Hebrew. In Cornish (archaically; J/Iowan) and Devon dialect the form is Jan which gives rises to the nickname of Plymothians as 'Janners' and the midsummer festival of St John ; Golowan.

Central and Eastern European derivatives

In Hungarian, Johannes became János, and in the Slavic languages Ivan, Jan, Ján, Honza, Janez and Jovan. In Albanian, Gjoni , Xhon, Xhoni and Jovan is used for males.

Name statistics

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 20th 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.^[8] 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.

John was also long the most common masculine name in the United Kingdom, but by 2004 it had fallen out of the top 50 names for newborn boys in England and Wales.^[9] By contrast Jack, which was 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.^[9][10] However, John has not been a popular one for members of the royal family. The memory of King John is tainted by negative depictions of his turbulent reign and troublesome personality and by his role as villain in the Robin Hood stories; Prince John, the youngest son of Edward VII, died shortly after birth; and The Prince John, the sickly youngest son of George V, died at age 13. It was reported that Diana, Princess of Wales wished to name her first son (who was ultimately named Prince William) after her own father, John Spencer, but was dissuaded by royal tradition.

Misspellings

Because the name Jonathan is sometimes abbreviated as Jon, John is often incorrectly considered to be a short form of Jonathan. John comes from the Hebrew name Yôḥānān,^[11] whereas Jonathan derives from the Hebrew יוֹנָתָן Yônāṯān,^[12] which means "Gift from YHWH" and thus is a longer version of Nathan.

In other languages

See also

• All pages beginning with "John"
• All pages with titles containing John

References