John.
a male given name from Hebrew, a spelling variant of Jon
Meaning & usage
a male given name from Hebrew, a spelling variant of Jon
a surname transferred from the given name, from the male given name John
Where this word comes from
A spelling variant of Jon, ultimately a short form of Johannes, from Ancient Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, “Yahweh is gracious”). The spelling with ⟨h⟩ was already common in Norway during the 18th century, before substantial English influence on Norwegian naming practices, although later use may also have been reinforced by English John. The surname is derived from the corresponding given name. Compare Danish John, Swedish John and English John (“male given name”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.