John

Hebrew

"God is gracious"

John Origin and Meaning

The name John is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious".

John reigned as the most popular of all boys' Christian names for 400 years, from the time the first Crusaders carried it back to Britain until the 1950s. Then American baby namers finally seemed to tire of this straight-arrow, almost anonymous John Doe of names, replacing it with fancier forms like Jonathan and the imported Sean and Ian.

John is an English derivative of the Hebrew name Yochanan via the Latin name Iohannes, itself coming from the Greek Ioannes. John was a key name in early Christianity, borne by John the Baptist, John the Apostle and John the Evangelist, plus 84 saints and 23 popes, as well as kings and countless other illustrious notables. Contrary to popular belief, the names John and Jonathan are unrelated, the latter being an elaboration of Nathan.

Because many of today's baby Johns get their names for familial rather than stylistic reasons, John isn't as ubiquitous as it once was. For modern parents, the nickname Jack or an international form like Gianni feels much fresher. But John is still one of the Top 10 boy names starting with J of all time.

The international versions of John are perennial classics in their own cultures: the French Jean, the Irish Sean, the Scottish Ian, the Welsh Evan and Ewan, the Italian Giovanni, and Gianni the Spanish Juan, the German Johann/Johannes, the Slavic Jan, the Russian Ivan, and on and on.

Celebrities who have gone with the timeless John include Michelle Pfeiffer, Bono, Johnny Depp, Lauryn Hill, Bridget Moynahan, and Rob Lowe.

Jon may be an abbreviated spelling of John or a short form of Jonathan.

John Rank in US Top 1000

# 26 in the US

John Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 170 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name John

• 26 US 2023
• 170 Nameberry 2025
• 73 Canada 2023
• 31 Future 2035
• 158 England 2023
• 78 Scotland 2024
• 29 Ireland 2024
• 93 Australia 2015
• 82 New Zealand 2024
• 85 Germany 2017
• 99 Sweden 2024
• 150 Switzerland 2023

20 Names Similar to John

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like John.

• Robert
• Joseph
• David
• Paul
• Timothy
• Patrick
• Peter
• Christopher
• Charles
• Richard
• Edward
• Philip
• Michael
• Adam
• Andrew
• Martin
• Stephen
• Matthew
• Thomas
• Daniel

Famous People Named John

• John "Johnny" Christopher Depp II American actor
• John "Jack" Christopher Depp III son of Johnny Depp
• Saint John the Baptist cousin of Jesus
• John I VIII, Byzantine emperors
• John I XXIII, popes
• John Paul I and II popes
• John King of England
• John Balliol King of Scotland
• John Milton English poet
• John Hancock American revolutionary
• Lt. Col. John Laurens American revolutionary and abolitionist
• John Adams 2nd U.S. president
• John Wesley English founder of Methodism
• John Quincy Adams 6th U.S. president
• John Tyler 10th U.S. president
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy 35th U.S. president
• John Wycliffe Morning Star of the Reformation
• John Smith English settler of North America
• John Locke English political philosopher
• John Davison Rockefeller American business magnate
• John Lounsbery American animator
• John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV an American business mogaul; richest person to die on the Titanic
• John Sidney (Blyth) Barrymore American actor
• John Wayne (born Marion Robert Morrison) American actor
• John Glenn American astronaut and politician
• John Major Prime Minister of the U.K.
• John Cleese English actor and comedian
• John Winston Lennon English musician of The Beatles
• John R. "Johnny" Cash American country music singer
• John Joseph Travolta American actor and singer
• John Rhys Davies, Welsh actor
• John King of Denmark
• John I and II Kings of Hungary
• John Donne English poet
• John Keats English poet
• John Hoyer Updike American novelist
• John Scot Barrowman Scottish,American actor
• John Adam Belushi American actor/comedian
• John Michael Green American novelist
• John Clayton Mayer American singer,songwriter
• John Alec Entwhistle bassist of English band The Who
• (Arthur) John Gielgud English actor
• John Foster Dulles U.S. Secretary of State
• John William Oliver English comedian and TV personality
• John Michael Turturro American actor
• John Edmund Andrew Phillips lead singer of American band The Mamas and the Papas
• John Christopher Reilly American actor
• John (Cougar) Mellencamp American singer
• John Dolmayan Armenian,American drummer for band System of a Down
• John Carter Hensley American actor
• John Joseph Edward "Jack" Cassidy American actor
• Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter American actor
• John Singer Sargent American painter
• John Cummings aka Johnny Ramone guitarist of American band The Ramones
• John Paul Henry Daniel Richard Grimes of Irish twin duo "Jedward"
• John Richard Deacon bassist for English band Queen
• John Paul Cusack American actor
• John Young American astronaut
• John Franklin English Royal Navy officer and explorer of the Arctic
• John Marcellus Huston American film director
• (Nigel) John Taylor bassist for English band Duran Duran
• John William Oates musician of American duo Hall & Oates
• John Mark "Johnny" Galecki American actor
• John Ross Bowie American actor
• John Phillip Stamos American actor/musician
• John Patrick "Jack" Douglass American comedy vlogger
• John Wesley Shipp American actor
• John "Barney" Yazici aka ThatGuyBarney Turkish,American YouTuber
• John David Duggar(b.1990), 3rd child (2nd son) of reality TV's Duggar family. Twin brother of Jana Marie
• John Owen Lowe son of American actor Rob Lowe
• John Aether Ramirez Land son of Dania Ramirez & John Land
• John David Linch (b. 2007) son of American legal commentator and television host Nancy Grace
• John Phillips (b. 2009) son of American actress Julie Bowen
• John "Rocco" Falconetti (b. 2009) son of former artistic gymnast Shannon Miller
• John Nash Chatham (b. 2014) son of American actor Wes Chatham and American sports broadcaster Jenn Brown
• John Willard "Bill" Marriott Sr., founder of Marriott International
• John Sidney McCain III American politician, senior US Senator from Arizona
• John Brooks American author, activist and blogger devoted to raising awareness of suicide and a barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge
• John Verhoek Dutch footballer
• Prince John Charles Francis of the United Kingdom fifth and youngest son of George V and Mary of Teck
• John Ledin Swedish guitarist, son of Swedish musician Tomas actor
• John Burke Krasinski American actor
• John Candy late Canadian actor & comedian
• John Lithgow American Actor
• John Goodman American Actor
• John Ronald Reuel "J.R.R." Tolkien English writer , author of The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings, The Silmarillion

The name John in Pop Culture

• John fourth book in the New Testament
• 1 2, &3 John, epistles in the New Testament
• John Coffey character in "The Green Mile" novel/movie
• John Trent character in "In the Mouth of Madness"
• John Winchester character on TV's "Supernatural"
• John Bender character in "The Breakfast Club"
• John Hamish Watson character in the Sherlock Holmes series
• Dr. John Montague/Markway character in "The Haunting of Hill House"
• John Smith character in "I Am Number Four" series
• John Smith main character in 'The Dead Zone' series
• John Smith alias of the Doctor on TV's Doctor Who
• John Ross Ewing I II, and III, characters on TV's "Dallas"
• John Nelson character in video game "The Sims"
• John "Johnny" Burb character in video game "The Sims"
• John Kennish character on TV's "Switched at Birth"
• John Bennett character on TV's "Orange is the New Black"
• John Sheppard character on TV's "Stargate: Atlantis"
• John Crichton character on TV's "Farscape"
• John Connor character in The Terminator series
• John Hayden Character in "Abandon" series by Meg Cabot
• John main character in G. A. Henty's, For the Temple
• John Becker character on TV's "Becker"
• John Clasky character in movie "Spanglish"
• John Egbert character in webcomic Homestuck
• John Bennett character on TV's "Alphas"
• John Brooke character in the Little Women series
• John 'Demi' Brooke Jr character in the Little Women series
• John James Rambo main character in "Rambo" series
• John Masters character from Star of Babylon by Barbara Wood
• John Dee main character in the "Kronos Chronicles"
• John the Savage character in "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
• John McBain character on American soaps "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital"
• John Locke character on TV's "Lost"
• Little John one of Robin Hood's Merry Men
• John Monad character on TV's "John from Cincinnati"
• John Whitefoot character in G. A. Henty's, Orange and Green
• John Gage a character on TV's "Emergency!"
• John Townsend character in "Yesterday's child" by Barbara Wood
• John Reese character on TV's "Person of Interest"
• John Moore character in "The Alienist"
• Red John villain on TV's "The Mentalist"
• John Glenn Tracy character from The Thunderbirds series
• John Swanson son of Ron Swanson and Diane Lewis on TV's Parks and Recreation
• Dr. John "JD" Dorian character on the TV show "Scrubs"
• Dr. John Carter character from TV show "ER"
• John Andrew Diggle aka Spartan character on TV's "Arrow"
• John Reed a character from Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"
• John "Pyro" Allerdyce character from X,men comics
• John Proudstar aka Thunderbird character from X,men comics
• John Wilkes character from "Gone with the Wind"
• John Jones also known as J'onn J'onzz and Martian Manhunter, character from DC Universe
• John Stewart also known as The Green Lantern, character from DC Universe
• John Corben also known as Metallo, character from DC Universe
• John Grayson character from DC Universe
• John Constantine character from DC Universe
• Dr. John Wade Prentice Jr. and his father John Prentice Sr. characters from "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
• John slang for a toilet
• John Kramer main character in the SAW movie franchise, played by Tobin Bell
• John Murphy main character in the TV show "The 100"
• John Proctor a character in Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible."
• John Michael Shelby character in bbc series Peaky blinders
• John Sturgis College Physics professor on the TV series "Young Sheldon"
• John LaMarr character on TV series "The Orville"
• John Thomas "J.T." Lambert character on ABC TGIF sitcom "Step by Step"
• John Harriman Captain of the Enterprise,B in the 1994 film "Star Trek: Generations"
• John Munch character on TV's "Law and Order: SVU" and "Homicide: Life on the Street"
• John James "Jack" McCoy character on "Law and Order"
• John Tyree character played by Channing Tatum in the movie "Dear John"