Yohanan ('), sometimes transcribed as Johanan, is a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

male

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

that can also appear in the longer form of ('), meaning "

YHWH The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from right to left, a ...

is gracious". The name is ancient, recorded as the name of

Johanan Yohanan ('), sometimes transcribed as Johanan, is a Hebrew male given name that can also appear in the longer form of ('), meaning " YHWH is gracious". The name is ancient, recorded as the name of Johanan, high priest of the Second Temple arou ...

, high priest of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

around 400 BCE.

Adaptations

The Hebrew name was adopted as (''Iōánnēs'') in

Biblical Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic ...

as the name of both

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

and

John the Apostle John the Apostle (; ; ), also known as Saint John the Beloved and, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Saint John the Theologian, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he ...

. In the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

this was originally adopted as '' Iohannes'' (or ''

Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Y ...

'' – in Latin, '' J'' is the same letter as ''I''). The presence of an ''h'', not found in the Greek adaptation, shows awareness of the Hebrew origin. Later editions of the Vulgate, such as the Clementine Vulgate, have '' Ioannes'', however. The anglicized form '' John'' makes its appearance in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

, from the mid-12th century, as a direct adaptation from Medieval Latin ''Johannes'', via the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Jean''. The feminine form ''Joanna">Jean (male given name)">Jean''. The feminine form ''Joanna'' is also biblical, recorded in the form as the name of Joanna, wife of Chuza. The form ''Johanan'', even closer to the Hebrew original than Latin ''Johannes'', is customarily used in English language, English-language English translations of the Bible, translations of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Wycliffe's Bible, which uses ''John'' when translating from the Greek (e.g. of

in Mark 1:4), but ''Johannan'' when translating from the Hebrew (as in Jeremiah 40:8).

People of that name

Hebrew bible (c. 7th – 5th century BCE)

* Yohanan, son of King

Josiah Josiah () or Yoshiyahu was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE). According to the Hebrew Bible, he instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Until the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah’s ...

of Judah (7th century BCE) * Yohanan, son of Kareah, mentioned as a leader of the army who led the remnant of the population of the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

to Egypt for safety after the Babylonian dismantling of the kingdom in 586 BC and the subsequent assassination of Gedaliah, the

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

-appointed Jewish governor. * Yohanan ben Yehoyada, a high priest mentioned in the

Book of Nehemiah The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible largely takes the form of a first-person memoir by Nehemiah, a Hebrew prophet and high official at the Persian court, concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile and the ...

who is fourth in the line of high priests after Joshua the High Priest, who returned from the

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...

with

Zerubbabel Zerubbabel ( from ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a governor of the Achaemenid Empire's province of Yehud Medinata and the grandson of Jeconiah, penultimate king of Judah. He is not documented in extra-biblical documents, and is considered ...

Hasmonean period

* Yohanan, Father of Matityahu * John Gaddi, oldest of the sons of Mattathias, and brother of

Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...

, one of the leaders of the revolt of the

Maccabees The Maccabees (), also spelled Machabees (, or , ; or ; , ), were a group of Jews, Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire. Its leaders, the Hasmoneans, founded the Hasmonean dynasty ...

in the 2nd century BC. *

John Hyrcanus John Hyrcanus (; ; ) was a Hasmonean (Maccabee, Maccabean) leader and Jewish High Priest of Israel of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until he died in 104 BCE). In rabbinic literature he is often referred to as ''Yoḥana ...

, Hasmonean ( Maccabean)

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

and Jewish

high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious organisation. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many god ...

of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until his death in 104 BCE). * John Hyrcanus II (1st century BCE), a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, High Priest, King, and

ethnarch Ethnarch (pronounced , also ethnarches, ) is a term that refers generally to political leadership over a common ethnic group or homogeneous kingdom. The word is derived from the Greek language, Greek words (''Ethnic group, ethnos'', "tribe/nation ...

of Judea

Roman era (c. 1st century BC – 4th century AD)

(late 1st century BC – c. AD 30), a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

itinerant preacher and later Christian saint. * John of Giscala, 1st century CE leader of the

revolt against the Romans in the First Jewish-Roman War. * Jehohanan, a man put to death by

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

in the 1st century CE, whose

ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years th ...

was found in 1968 in northern

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, one of the

Twelve Apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and possible author of the Johannine works. * Other possible authors of the Johannine works:

John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on how ...

, John of Patmos, John the Presbyter.

Rabbinic sages

* Yohanan ben Bag-Bag, one of the tannaim (rabbinic sages), who is mentioned several times in the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

. * Johanan ben Baroka, second and third generation Jewish Tanna sage (2nd century). * Johanan ben Torta, rabbi of the early 2nd century (third generation of tannaim). * Johanan HaSandlar (c. 200–c. 300), one of the tannaim, whose teachings are quoted in the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

* Yochanan bar Nappaha (died c. 279), a rabbi in the early era of the Talmud, better known simply as "Rabbi Yohanan" * Johanan ben Nuri, one of the tannaim of the 1st and 2nd centuries, frequently cited in the Mishnah * Yohanan ben Zakai (c. 30–90), one of the tannaim, widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures in the era of the

and a primary contributor to the Mishnah

Middle ages (4th century – 15th century)

* Yohanan, ancestor of the Banu Qaynuqa. * Johanan Luria, fifteenth century talmudist.

Modern period

* Yochanan Afek (born 1952), Israeli chess player * Yohanan Aharoni (1919–1976), Israeli archaeologist and historical geographer * Yohanan Alemanno (c. 1435–after 1504), Italian Jewish humanist philosopher and exegete * Yohanan Bader (1901–1994), Revisionist Zionist leader and Israeli politician * Yohanan Cohen (1917–2013), Israeli former politician and diplomat * Yohanan Danino (born 1959), chief of the Israel Police * Yohanan Friedmann (born 1936), Israeli scholar of Islamic studies * Yohanan Levi (1901–1945), Hebrew linguist and historian * Yohanan Moyal (born 1965), Israeli Olympic gymnast * Yochanan Muffs (1932–2009), American–Jewish professor of the Bible and religion * Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern (born 1962), American historian, philologist and essayist * Yohanan Plesner (born 1972), Israeli politician * Yohanan Simon (1905–1976), Israeli painter * Yochanan Sofer (1923–2016), Rebbe (leader) of the Erlau Hasidic dynasty * Yochanan Vollach (born 1945), Israeli former footballer and businessman

References

{{Given name Hebrew masculine given names Masculine given names Theophoric names