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Discover the meanings of thousands of Biblical names in Abarim Publications' Biblical Name Vault: Jonan

Jonan meaning

Jonan in Biblical Greek
Ιωναν
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Source: https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Jonan.html

🔼The name Jonan: Summary

Meaning
He Will Be Gracious, Yah Is Gracious
Etymology
From possibly (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, John, Tahan, Tehinnah

🔼The name Jonan in the Bible

The name Jonan (or Jonam according to some translations) occurs only once in the Bible. Luke mentions him as an ancestor of Jesus Christ in his genealogy through Nathan, son of David (as opposed to the Matthean genealogy, which goes through Solomon; Luke 3:30).

🔼Etymology of the name Jonan

Jonan was a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of David and his name was certainly Hebrew. And as such, it was most probably derived from the verb חנן (hanan), meaning to be gracious:

Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
חנן

The verb חנן (hanan) means to be gracious or to favor. Nouns חן (hen), חנינה (hanina), תחנה (tehinna) and תחנון (tahanun) mean favor or grace. Adverb חנם (hinnam) means freely or gratis, and adjective חנון (hannun) means gracious.

— See the full Dictionary article —

🔼Jonan meaning

In order to create the Jo-part of our name, the name Jonan should either be seen as an active form of the verb: יחנן, meaning He Will Be Gracious, which insinuates that the Lord is the subject of this name. It could even be a transliteration of the more complete יהחנן (Jahanan), which would consist of our verb plus יה (Yah), which is an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, YHWH, or Yahweh. In that case our name would mean Yah Is Gracious.

For a meaning of the name Jonan or Jonam, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Has Been Gracious and Spiros Zodhiates (The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary) proposes Jehovah Is Gracious.