Are there ANY good variations on John?

[ladycarlotta]

Guess what, DP and I have a bunch of relatives called John. DP's mn is John and he has never liked it - it's so boring. For sentimental reasons I'd love to include some variant in our child's name if we have a boy, but God it's a struggle to come up with any that we like besides Ivo, which I think is maybe not an obvious link to English ears.

My cousin has already named her child one of the (v nice) Welsh forms of John, so maybe she's paid the family dues.

I've never really got the 'a variation on' as tribute thing - it's not the same name and with the vast majority of these suggestions (with possible exception of Jack) no one will make the link, including the people who are supposed to feel honoured. I think just give him a name you like if you don't like the family name, rather than a half-compromise.

Had to use John as a middle name for my son. My husband insisted (It's his middle name, and his Dad's too). I thought it was really boring but my son's 18 and recently told me that if he ever has a son he will insist that he hasJohn as a middle name too. So I guess that's a vote of approval !

Yiannis - Greek for John.

Siôn is nice but difficult to get right - it doesn't quite sound the same as Shaun.

Adding to the Welsh variations, Ioan, pronounced (sort of) Yo-un. I would have quite liked Ioan for DS, but (a) I had an uncle Ioan whom I didn't care for much, and (b) even with four letters, DH hated the idea of a name that DS would always have to spell out.

Jonny

Jonathan (nn Jon or Nate)

"Variations on" as "tribute" can work when a name has a lot of variants. My great-grandmother was commemorated by several Elizabeths and Lisas - possibly because of uncertainty of her actual name? When she died it turned out she was Eliza.

Would it have worked if Betty had been the grandmother and Libby and Lisa been named after her with none having Elizabeth on the BC?

I know a grandfather, father and son who are called John, Sean and Iain - basically all versions of the same name.

I think Johnny is a nice abbreviation. Otherwise I like Yiannis (my DM is Greek so maybe I'm biased though!)

Yannick or Yann?

Jonathan is actually a completely different name to John, from a different root. Not that it matters as people will still associate it with John I guess, but it is actually the same root as Nathan and means "gift from God" whereas John means God is gracious.

I wouldn't use Ivo (because of the Eye-vo/Ee-vo?).
If you have a welsh connection you could use one of the welsh versions but they aren't easy. There are some that are more well known than others (Iwan Thomas, Ioan Gruffydd, Ieuan Evans etc). Of those, Ioan (Yo-an) sounds the most current of them. Siencyn (pr. Shenkin) is sweet though.
I really like the name John.

How's this for a load of Johns- my father, great grandfather, my mum's dad, mums brother and even more on the other side....DHs brother, father and one son out of every generation going way back, and Dh's uncle on mum's side....BEAT THAT
Seriously though watching this thread with interest. Was dead against another one ( luckily DC was a girl) but I'm actually warming to it, I think it's due a comeback

Just call him John. It’s a lovely, strong, classic name.

One of our DS is a John and far from boring either by name or nature. Each to their own. And if you and DP hate the name why pick a variant of it? You could use your DP's first name which
(presumably) you both like.

What a nasty user name

I'd either go with John or step away from it completely unless you have other reasons to call him John in a different language than English. You could probably get away with Sean, but it'd be a bit weird to have baby Giovanni or baby Jean unless you have actual connections to Italy or France

Ian?

Who's username is nasty Lyn?

A friend of a friend had a brother(are you still with me?) called Jonjon. I loved it.

Johnathan is a legitimate spelling of the name... it might be uncommon but it is an actual name. (Dh is called this-i berated him for his wrong spelling until he pointed out that it is a recognised variant).

I think "John" as a middle name is too short, whereas Johnathan (or Jonathan) is a clear link to the name but sounds more "middle name" to me!

Iain
Ivan
Johann
Hannes
Jurgen

What defines a legitimate name? That people use it?

What a nasty user name Eh?