Hannes

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 9 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Hannes is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name1.7K records spelled Hannes3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, South Africa, Belgium, Spain

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Hannés

• Polish given name1.1K records spelled Hannes10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Czechia

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Ханнес, Khannes

45 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Hannes 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.

• In Finnish, a male given name from Late Latin Iōhannēs [in turn from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), in turn from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān, “God is gracious”)], variant of Johannes; variant form Hannu

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, a diminutive of the male given name Johannes

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Hannes är en äldre form av → Hans och ursprungligen en smekform till → Johannes. Det var ett populärt namn runt millennieskiftet. En känd namnbärare är regissören Hannes Holm (f. 1962). I den finlandssvenska almanackan 27 december.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, männl. Vom., Kurzform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Short form of Johannes , the Latin form of JOHN . It is found in Dutch, and is a common name in South Africa, where the Latin forms of names (such as Jacobus , Petrus , and Stephanus ) are still very much in current use among Afrikaners.

  as a word

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.

Over time●

AT Statistik Austria — Vornamen der Geborenen (1984–present) — 41 years between 1984–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Hannes Meyerb. 1889CHSwiss architect and second director of the Bauhaus (1889-1954)
• Hannes Alfvénb. 1908SESwedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist and science fiction author (1908–1995), winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physics
• Hannes Messemerb. 1924DEactor (1924-1991)
• Hannes Nikelb. 1931DEGerman film editor (1931-2001)
• Hannes Löhrb. 1942DEGerman footballer and manager (1942-2016)
• Hannes Waderb. 1942DEGerman singer-songwriter
• Hannes Swobodab. 1946ATAustrian politician
• Hannes Jaenickeb. 1960DEGerman actor
• Hannes Holmb. 1962SESwedish film director
• Hannes Halldorssonb. 1984ISIcelandic filmmaker and former professional footballer

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●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 189 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Hannes?

We estimate roughly 13 thousand people bear Hannes (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Hannes have the most bearers?

Hannes is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled hannes.

How common is Hannes compared with other names?

In Germany, Hannes is the 438th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Hannes a male or female name?

Hannes 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 Hannes mean?

Recorded meaning: from an aphetic form of the personal name Johannes (see John).