John
given name · Latin script
Meaning: The name John is a timeless classic of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious"
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
John is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country, where it is the 3rd most common given name.
- IEIreland≈1 in 53(inferred from the name graph)
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 59
- USUnited States1 in 106
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than John itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #6 (measured from records)
- 9 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 731 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 53 (inferred from the name graph)
3,125,123 people, 2020
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Ireland, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Locally spelled Jan in CZ Czechia, Ioan in RO Romania and Ион in MD Moldova.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
The name John is a timeless classic of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious." It is a name deeply rooted in religious history, borne by major figures like John the Baptist and the Apostle John. Jonah is also a Hebrew name, meaning "dove," associated with the biblical prophet who was famously swallowed by a large fish. Both names carry a strong sense of history and faith.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 10 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
John counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #3 | 3,125,123 | 1 in 106 | 3.1M | John | 731 |
| NG Nigeria | #11 | ≈1,200,000 est. | ≈1 in 177 | — | John | 190 |
| GB United Kingdom | #1 | ≈1,100,000 est. | ≈1 in 59 | 1.1K | John | 496 |
| PH Philippines | #3 | ≈750,000 est. | ≈1 in 145 | listed | John | 261 |
| CZ Czechia | #1 | 587,876as Jan | 1 in 18 | 588K | Jan | 233 |
| RO Romania | #151 | 447,697as Ioan | 1 in 48 | 448K | Ioan | 96 |
| MD Moldova | #332 | 100,110as Ion | 1 in 34 | 100K | Ион | 50 |
| IE Ireland | #1 | ≈98,000 est. | ≈1 in 53 | — | John | 245 |
3,125,123 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; ONS — Baby names England and Wales (2024); MVČR — living population register 2017; DEPABD — name-day population snapshot; e-services.md — living population register. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
John is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The classic name John has deep historical and religious roots, meaning 'God is gracious.' It belongs to one of the most revered prophets, known for his integrity, courage, and pivotal role in preparing the way for Jesus, making it a name that signifies humility and divine purpose.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), the name combines 'Yô,' a reference to Yahweh (God), with the verb 'ḥānan,' meaning 'to be gracious'. It was Hellenized to Ἰωάννης (Ioannes) in Greek and later Latinized as Iohannes, eventually becoming John in English.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name John is of Hebrew origin and signifies divine grace and favor. As the father of Peter, the 'rock' on whom Jesus would build his church, John's name subtly underscores the theme of God's grace being foundational to the establishment of the Christian faith.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
John is a timeless and classic boy's name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God is gracious." One of the most popular names in the Western world for centuries, it has been borne by numerous saints, kings, and popes, giving it a strong, traditional, and dependable feel.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
John is a timeless Hebrew name meaning "God is gracious," while Mark is a strong Latin name meaning "warlike." As John Mark, the name represents a figure of great importance in early Christianity, known for his resilience and for authoring one of the Gospels.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- John Bunyanb. 1628GBEnglish Christian writer and preacher (1628-1688)
- John Adamsb. 1735USFounding Father, U.S. president from 1797 to 1801 (1735–1826)
- John Quincy Adamsb. 1767USPresident of the United States from 1825 to 1829
- John Tylerb. 1790USpresident of the United States from 1841 to 1845
- John Updikeb. 1932USAmerican novelist, poet (1932–2009)
- John McCainb. 1936USAmerican politician (1936–2018)
- Thomas J. Sargentb. 1943USnot in their usual nameAmerican economist (born 1943)
- John Grishamb. 1955USAmerican writer (born 1955)
- John Robertsb. 1955USChief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2005
- John Cusackb. 1966USAmerican actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1966)
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 200 sources across 103 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 3.1M | #2 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 8K | — |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 6.5K | #2 |
| MD Moldova | e-services.md — living population register | — | 30 | #1,672 |
Reference works 10
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- Hoffman, Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings (2nd ed., 2012)
- Søndergaard, Georg, Danske efternavne (Lademann 1984/1991)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What are other forms of the name John?
- In the etymology graph, Juan, Ivan and Jack are forms of the same name in other languages; Johnny, Johnnie and Johnie are recorded short or pet forms.
- Where does the name John come from?
- The name John is a timeless classic of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious." It is a name deeply rooted in religious history, borne by major figures like John the Baptist and the Apostle John. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- Is John a male or female name?
- John is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What does the name John mean?
- Recorded meaning: The name John is a timeless classic of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious."
- How common is the name John?
- In the United States, the national register counted 3,125,123 people named John in 2020, about 1 in 106 residents.
- How common is John compared with other names?
- In the United States, John is the 3rd most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.
- In which country does John have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 3.1 million people named John, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled john.
What do you want to know about John?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/johnThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “John” — the 3rd most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.