John meaning

Meaning

Yah Is Gracious, Yah Has Been Gracious

Etymology

From (1) יה (yah), the shortened name of the Lord, and (2) the verb חנן (hanan), to be gracious.

Related names

• Via יה (yah): See the 'browse by form' menu for a long list of yah-names.

• Via חנן (hanan): Ananias, Anna, Annas, Baal-hanan, Ben-hanan, Elhanan, Elonbeth-hanan, Hanan, Hananel, Hanani, Hananiah, Hannah, Hannathon, Hannibal, Hanniel, Hanun, Hen, Henadad, Jannai, Jannes, Jehohanan, Joanna, Joanan, Johanan, Jonan, Tahan, Tehinnah

The English name John is the transliteration of the Greek name Ioannes, and the Greek name Ioannes is the transliteration of the Hebrew name Johanan.

The Hebrew name Johanan was quite popular in ancient Israel, and the Greek name John, or rather Ioannes, subsequently shows up quite a few times in the New Testament (132 times, to be precise; see full concordance). There are five or six different Johns mentioned in the New Testament:

• John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1)
• John the Apostle (Matthew 4:21) who may or may not be the same as John the Revelator (Revelation 1:4)
• The father of Simon Peter (John 1:42).
• A Levite of high-priestly descent (Acts 4:6).
• A man also known as Mark (Acts 12:12). Peter averts to his mother Mary's house after the angel walks him out of prison.

The name John, or rather the Hebrew original, Johanan, consists of two elements. The first part is יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which is the truncated form of יהוה, which is YHWH, the Name of the Lord.

The final part of the names John and Johanan comes from the verb חנן (hanan), meaning to be gracious:

For a meaning of the name John, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Has Been Gracious, but for Johanan NOBSE reads Yahweh Is Gracious. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names does not treat John or Johanan separately and refers to the name Jehohanan, which Jones takes to mean The Lord Graciously Gave.