John

John: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“Yahweh is gracious”
Origin
Hebrew
Say it
JAHN · 1 syllable
Used for
Boys

From Latin Iohannes and Greek Ioannes, ultimately from Hebrew Yohanan. It has many international forms, including Jean, Juan, Giovanni, and Ivan.

How popular is John?

20242,420 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named John in 20248,055

2024 rank#21 boys

Peak year1880

Total US babies since 18805,196,210

John is steady now but far below its 1880 peak.

Names like John

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • JackGod is gracious · English
  • Jacksonson of Jack · English
  • IanGod is gracious · Scottish Gaelic
  • Jaxonson of Jack · English
  • GiovanniGod is gracious · Italian
  • JuanYahweh is gracious · Hebrew
  • Evanthe Lord is gracious · Welsh
  • IvanGod is gracious · Slavic

John questions

What does the name John mean?

John means "Yahweh is gracious". It comes from Hebrew. From Latin Iohannes and Greek Ioannes, ultimately from Hebrew Yohanan. It has many international forms, including Jean, Juan, Giovanni, and Ivan.

Is John a boy or girl name?

John is mainly a boy's name in US records (100% of uses since 1880).

How popular is John?

8,055 US babies were named John in 2024. Its peak year was 1880.

How do you pronounce John?

John is usually pronounced JAHN.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.