Yo-Ho! hanan

John

masc. proper name, Middle English Jon, Jan (mid-12c.), from Old French Jan, Jean, Jehan (Modern French Jean), from Medieval Latin Johannes, an alteration of Late Latin Joannes, from Greek Ioannes, from Hebrew Yohanan (longer form y'hohanan), said to mean literally "Jehovah has favored" or "Jah is gracious," from hanan "He was gracious."

Greek conformed the Hebrew ending to its own customs. The -h- in English was inserted in imitation of the Medieval Latin form. Old English had the Biblical name as Iohannes. As the name of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, it was one of the most frequent Christian given names, and in England by early 14c. it rivaled William in popularity and was used generically (in Middle English especially of priests) and as an appellative (as in John Barleycorn, John Bull, John Q. Public). Somehow it also became the characteristic name of a Chinaman (1818).

The Latin name also is the source of French Jean, Spanish Juan, Italian Giovanni, Portuguese João, also Dutch Jan, Hans, German Johann, Russian Ivan. Welsh form was Ieuan, Efan (see Evan), but Ioan was adopted for the Welsh Authorized Version of the Bible, hence frequency of Jones as a Welsh surname.

also from mid-12c.

john (n.)

"toilet," 1932, probably from jakes, used for "toilet" since 15c. Meaning "prostitute's customer" is from 1911, probably from the common, and thus anonymous, name by which they identified themselves. Meaning "policeman" is by 1901, from shortening of johndarm (1823), a jocular Englishing of gendarme.

"John Darm! who's he?" "What, don't you know!

In Paris he is all the go;

Like money here,—he's every thing;

A demigod—at least a king!

You cannot fight, you cannot drink,

Nor have a spree, nor hardly think,

For fear you should create a charm,

To conjure up the fiend John Darm!

["John Darm," in "Varieties in Verse," John Ogden, London, 1823]

also from 1932

Entries linking to John

Evan 

masc. proper name, Welsh form of John, perhaps influenced in form by Welsh ieuanc "young man" (cognate of Latin juvenis), from Celtic *yowanko-, from PIE *yeu- "vital force, youthful vigor" (see young (adj.)).

gendarme (n.)

"French military police," 1796, from French (they were first organized in France 1790); earlier "mounted trooper" (1540s), from French contraction (14c.) of gens d'armes "men at arms." Gens is plural of gent "nation, people," from Latin gentem (nominative gens) "race, nation, people" (from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups). For armes see arm (n.2). Related: Gendarmerie, gendarmery. French also had gens de (la) robe "lawyers," which was sometimes borrowed in English.

jakes

John Bull

John Q. Public

Jones

Hans

Ian

Ivan

Jack

Jane

Jankin

Jean

Joan

joe

Johannine

Johnny

Jonathan

Juan

Sean

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Trends of John

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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joe

"coffee," by 1932, likely derived from Java, a noted source of fine coffee, as explained in the glossary of naval terms in Robert P. Erdman, "Reserve Officer's Manual, United States Navy" (Washington, 1932). The guess that it is from the name of U.S. coffee merchant Joseph Martin

toilet

1530s, earliest in English in an obsolete sense "cover or bag for clothes," from French toilette "a cloth; a bag for clothes," diminutive of toile "cloth, net" (see toil (n.2)). Toilet acquired an association with upper class dressing by 18c., through the specific sense "a fine c

lavatory

late 14c., "washbasin," from Late Latin lavatorium "place for washing," noun use of neuter of Latin adjective lavatorius "pertaining to washing," from lavat-, past participle stem of lavare "to wash," from PIE root *leue- "to wash." Sense of "washroom" is first attested 1650s; as

weasel

A John Wesilheued ("John Weaselhead") turns up on the Lincolnshire Assize Rolls for 1384, but the name seems not to have...

Baskerville

typeface style, 1802 (the type was created in the 1750s), named for John Baskerville (1706-1775), British type-founder and...The initial version were cut by John Handy under Baskerville's watchful eye....

mathematical

[Sir John Hawkins, "A General History of the Science and Practice of Music," Sir John Hawkins, 1776]...

Marshall

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835)....The Marshall Islands in the western Pacific were explored in 1788 by British naval captains John Marshall (1748-1819) and...

commode

1786, "decorative chest of drawers for holding clothes, handy articles, etc.," earlier (1680s) name of a type of fashionable ladies' large, high headdress mounted on a wire frame, from French commode, noun use of adjective meaning "convenient, suitable," from Latin commodus "prop

head

Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Ha

loo

"lavatory," 1940, but perhaps 1922 (based on a pun of Joyce's); perhaps [Dictionary of American Slang] from French lieux d'aisances "lavatory," literally "place of ease," picked up by British servicemen in France during World War I. Or possibly a pun on Waterloo, based on water c

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