(male) English form of Latin Io(h)annes, New Testament Greek Iōannēs, a contracted form of the Hebrew name Johanan ‘God is gracious’ (the name of several different characters in the Old Testament, including one of King David's ‘mighty men’). John is the spelling used in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. The name is of great importance in early Christianity: it was borne by John the Baptist (the precursor of Christ himself, who baptized sinners in the River Jordan), by one of Christ's disciples (John the Apostle, a fisherman, brother of James), and by the author of the fourth gospel (John the Evangelist, identified in Christian tradition with the apostle, but more probably a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian living over half a century later). The name was also borne by many saints and by twenty-three popes, including John XXIII (Giuseppe Roncalli, 1881–1963), whose popularity was yet another factor influencing people to choose this given name. It was also a royal name, being borne by eight Byzantine emperors and by kings of Hungary, Poland, Portugal, France, and elsewhere. Among numerous bearers of note in recent times have been American president John F. Kennedy (1917–63) and British pop singer John Lennon (1940–80). In its various forms in different languages, it has been the most perennially popular of all Christian names.
Cognates: Irish: Eoin, Seán. Scottish: Ian, Iain, Eòin, Seathan. Welsh: Ieuan, Sión. German: Johann, Johannes. Dutch: Jan. Danish, Norwegian: Jens, Johan, Jan. Swedish: Johan, Jöns, Jon, Jan. French: Jean. Spanish: Juan. Catalan: Joan. Portuguese: João. Italian: Giovanni, Gianni. Greek: Ioannis, Iannis. Russian: Ivan. Polish: Jan. Czech: Jan. Finnish: Juhani, Jussi, Hannu. Hungarian: János. Latvian: Janis, Jānis.
Pet forms: Johnny, Johnnie, Jack, Hank.
Chinese 张: variant of Zhang 1.
Chinese 常: The emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 BC) had two advisers whose names contained this character; descendants of both of them are believed to have adopted Chang as their surname. Additionally, in the state of Wei during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 BC) there existed a fief named Chang, the name of which was adopted by descendants of its ruling class. The Chinese character also has the meanings ‘often’ and ‘ordinary’.
Chinese 章: variant of Zhang 2.
Chinese 昌: a rare name whose Chinese character also means ‘prosperous, flourishing’. This name is said to have originated 4500 years ago with Chang Yi, son of the legendary emperor Huang Di and father of emperor Zhuan Xu.
Korean: there are 33 Chang clans in Korea, all but three of which use the same Chinese character for their surname. All of the Korean Chang clans had their origins in China, and, apart from the Tŏksu Chang clan and the Chŏlgang Chang clan, they all originated from a single founding ancestor, Chang Chŏn-p'il. He was born in China in 888 AD and fled to Korea with his father during a tumultuous period of Chinese history. The Tŏksu Chang clan's founding ancestor, Chang Sul-long, stayed in Korea, having escorted Koryŏ King Ch'ungyŏl's queen-to-be from China to Korea in 1275. Most of the founding ancestors of the other Chang clans arrived in Korea from Yŭan China during the Koryŏ period (AD 918– 1392) or during the early Chosŏn period.
