this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2024
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Mildly Interesting

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The name "John" has equivalents in more than 100 different languages (and plenty even in English) (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by smeg@feddit.uk to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
7 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

It started with Yochanan (Hebrew) -> Ioannis (Greek) -> Johannes (Mediaeval Latin) -> Jon (Middle English), but now every language seems to have a version, e.g.

  • Hans
  • Joanna
  • Hanna
  • Jan
  • Ivan/Ivanka
  • Vanja
  • Jens
  • Sean/Shaun/Shawn/Shane
  • Joan/Jane/Jean/Janis
  • Evan/Ewan
  • Jock/Jack
  • Ian/Iain/Ianto
  • Juan
  • Yiannis/Gianna
  • Gianni/Giovanni/Vanni/Giovanna
  • Jonas
  • Ivo/Iva
  • Eoin/Owen
  • Seonaid/Siubhan

and those are just the ones I've heard used, there are hundreds more!

top 7 comments
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[–] thefactremains@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Don't forget João & Xoán

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I guess Everyone is John knew all along

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

That looks like a blast

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 12 points 2 weeks ago

Does that mean John Hannah is really just "Jon Jon" ?

[–] frosty99c@midwest.social 7 points 2 weeks ago

Jacob is similar. It is derived from an old Hebrew names and there are a ton of variants (including James and Diego)

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

Jean, maybe even Yann, which might be a Breton (from brittany) version of John.

[–] Canadian_Cabinet@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

There's also a bunch of female names taken from the various forms of John, like Juana or Jeanne in Spanish and French