Johann

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Juan in AR Argentina, ES Spain, MX Mexico and 6 more, John in US United States, GB United Kingdom, PH Philippines and 5 more, Jan in PL Poland, CZ Czechia, DK Denmark and 1 more and Sebastian in DE Germany, EC Ecuador.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 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◐

Johann is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name49K records spelled Johann4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela

  Also written Joh-Ann, Johañn, Jóhann

• Portuguese given name30K records spelled Johann4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Switzerland, South Africa

  Also written Jöhann, Jóhann, Jöhänn

• Icelandic given name14K records spelled Johann9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, United States

  Languages: Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål

  Also written Jóhann, Jòhann

• a separate given name11K records spelled Johann2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Switzerland, Netherlands, Russia

  Also written Jóhann

• Finnish given name3.1K records spelled Johann17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written John, Ioan, Jõhñ, Jóhann, Jõhn

• Polish given name2.9K records spelled Johann42 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Croatia, Czechia, Sweden

  Languages: Polish, Croatian, Czech

  Also written Johan, Yohan, Јохан, Йохан, Jokhan

• Swahili given name2.2K records spelled Johann4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in South Africa, United States, Philippines, Switzerland

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Jóhann

90 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●

Johann 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 German, from the personal name Johann, a vernacular form of Latin Johannes (see John).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• Vernacular form of JOHANNES. Jo(h)anna 2 Feminine form of JOHANNES.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In German, a diminutive of the male given name Johannes, equivalent to English John

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

• In French, German form of Jean; «Dieu est miséricordieux».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In German, Rufnamen-Komposition; zweiter Bestandteil des Typs. Belegt die morphologische Einbindung von Johann in Zusammensetzungen.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

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●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 108 years between 1912–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Johann Bernoullib. 1667CHSwiss mathematician (1667-1748)
• Josef Ib. 1678ATnot in their usual nameEmperor from 1705 till his death in 1711
• Johann Sebastian Bachb. 1685DEGerman composer (1685–1750)
• Karl VIb. 1685ATnot in their usual name18th century Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor
• Johann Christian Bachb. 1735DEGerman composer (1735–1782)
• Johann Gottfried von Herderb. 1744PLGerman philosopher, theologian, poet (1744–1803)
• Johann Pestalozzib. 1746CHSwiss pedagogue and educational reformer (1746-1827)
• Wolfgang Amadè Mozartb. 1756ATnot in their usual nameAustrian composer of the Classical period (1756-1791)
• Friedrich Schillerb. 1759DEnot in their usual nameGerman playwright, poet, philosopher and historian (1759–1805)
• Johann Gottlieb Fichteb. 1762DEGerman philosopher (1762–1814)

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 · 1,052 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Johann?

We estimate roughly 11 million people bear Johann (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Johann have the most bearers?

Johann is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled juan.

How common is Johann compared with other names?

In Argentina, Johann is the 2nd most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Johann a male or female name?

Johann 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 Johann mean?

Recorded meaning: from Hebrew Yôḥānān 'Yahweh is gracious'