Jon

See also: Appendix:Variations of "jon"

English

Etymology 1

Proper noun

Jon

1. A male given name from Hebrew, variant of John.
   • 1920 October, John Galsworthy, Awakening, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 6:

     In that Summer of 1909 the simple souls who even then desired to simplify the English tongue, had, of course, no cognizance of little Jon, or they would have claimed him for a disciple. But one can be too simple in this life, for his real name was Jolyon, and his living father and dead half-brother had usurped of old the other shortenings, Jo and Jolly. As a fact little Jon had done his best to conform to convention and spell himself first Jhon, then John; not till his father had explained the sheer necessity, had he spelled his name Jon.

2. A diminutive of the male given name Jonathan.
   • 1994, Robertson Davies, The Cunning Man, Viking, published 1995, →ISBN, page 16:

     "I suppose I ought to call you Uncle Jack now." "Please don't. My name is Jonathan, and I've never had a nickname. Doesn't go with my character. So, Uncle Jon - if you must."

   • 2016 June 8, Tom Kludt, “New York Times editor quits Twitter over anti-Semitic tweets”, in CNN Business‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 January 2025:

     Inundated with anti-Semitic tweets and frustrated by Twitter's initial response, New York Times editor Jon Weisman is packing up and leaving the social media platform.

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Proper noun

Jon (plural Jons)

1. A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Jon is the 39486^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 557 individuals. Jon is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (42.91%), White (32.5%), Hispanic/Latino (11.49%) and Black/African American (10.23%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Jon”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 254.

Anagrams

• Jno., ONJ

Albanian

Proper noun

Jon m

1. a male given name from Illyrian

Declension

Declension of Jon

	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	Jon	Joni
accusative		Jonin
dative/ablative	Joni	Jonit

Derived terms

• Joniar
• Jontar

References

• Kostallari, Androkli et al., editors (1982), “Jon, -i”, in Fjalor me emra njerëzish [Dictionary of personal names] (in Albanian), Tirana: 8 Nëntori, page 38

Basque

Alternative forms

• Ion (proscribed)

Etymology

Coined by Sabino Arana from Latin Iohannes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Navarro-Lapurdian) /ɟon/ [ɟõn]

 

• IPA^(key): (Southern) /jon/ [jõn]

• IPA^(key): (Gipuzkoan) /jon/ [jõn]
• IPA^(key): (Biscayan) /d͡ʒon/ [d͡ʒõn]
• IPA^(key): (Navarrese) /jon/ [jõn]

• Rhymes: -on
• Hyphenation: Jon

Proper noun

Jon anim

1. John (Biblical character)
2. a male given name, equivalent to English John

Declension

Declension of Jon (anim C-stem)

	indefinite
absolutive	Jon
ergative	Jonek
dative	Joni
genitive	Jonen
comitative	Jonekin
causative	Jonengatik
benefactive	Jonentzat
instrumental	Jonez
inessive	Jonengan
locative	—
allative	Jonengana
terminative	Jonenganaino
directive	Jonenganantz
destinative	Jonenganako
ablative	Jonengandik
partitive	Jonik
prolative	Jontzat

Danish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -oːˀn

Proper noun

Jon

1. a male given name, equivalent to English John

Marshallese

Etymology

From English John.

Proper noun

Jon

1. (biblical, given name) John

Middle English

Proper noun

Jon

1. alternative form of John

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• John, Jonn (male given-name variants)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juːn/
• IPA^(key): /junː/, /jɔnː/ (regional)
• Rhymes: -uːn, -unː, -ɔnː
• Hyphenation: Jon

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Norse Jón (“male given name”), a contraction of earlier Jóann, from Latin Iōhannēs, from Ancient Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, “Yahweh is gracious”).

Doublet of Jan, Johan, Johannes, Jens, and Hans.

Compare Norwegian Nynorsk Jon, Danish Jon, Swedish Jon, Icelandic Jón and Faroese Jón (“male given name”).

Proper noun

Jon

1. a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English John

Usage notes

• The Norwegian name day for Jon is 24 June; Hans and Johannes share the same name day.
• Jon was already very common in Norway during the Middle Ages. It reached its highest level of use during the period 1965–1969.
• During the 19th century, the name was particularly common in Trøndelag.

Derived terms

• Jona (“female form”)
• Jonna (“female form”)
• Jonny (“pet form”)
• Jonsdatter (“patronymic surname”)
• Jonsen (“patronymic surname”)
• Jonson (“patronymic surname”)
• Jonssen (“patronymic surname”)
• Jonsson (“patronymic surname”)

Etymology 2

The surname has several possible origins. It may be Korean, a variant transcription of 전 (Jeon); English, as a variant of John; or Czech, also written Jón, from a short form of Jonáš.

Proper noun

Jon

1. a surname of Korean, English, or Czech origin

Usage notes

• The pronunciation of the surname varies according to its linguistic origin and the individual family's established pronunciation.

Statistics

• According to Statistics Norway, 14,743 men in Norway had Jon as their sole or first given name as of 1 January 2026.
• In 2025, 47 boys in Norway were given Jon as their first given name.
• The surname Jon was borne by 15 people in Norway as of 31 December 2025.

References

• “Jon – mannsnamn” in Store norske leksikon.
• “Jon m” at Nordic Names.
• “Jon Surname Meaning”, citing Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition (2022).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• John (alternative spelling)

Etymology

Medieval contraction of Johannes. First recorded in Norway in the 11th century.

Doublet of Jan, Joan, Johan, Jehans, Johanes, Joannes, Johannes, Jens, and Hans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juːn/, /junː/

Proper noun

Jon m (definite Jonen)

1. a male given name, feminine equivalent Jona, equivalent to English John

Usage notes

Patronymics:

• son of Jon: Jonsson
• daughter of Jon: Jonsdotter

Related terms

• Johnny, Jonny.

References

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• [2] Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 16 263 males with the given name Jon (compared to 20 361 named John)living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1960s. Accessed on April 29th, 2011.

Polish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἴων (Íōn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɔn
• Syllabification: Jon
• Homophone: jon

Noun

Jon m pers

1. (historical) Ionian (native or inhabitant of Ionia)

Declension

Declension of Jon

	singular	plural
nominative	Jon	Jonowie
genitive	Jona	Jonów
dative	Jonowi	Jonom
accusative	Jona	Jonów
instrumental	Jonem	Jonami
locative	Jonie	Jonach
vocative	Jonie	Jonowie

Related terms

adjectives

• joński

proper noun

• Jonia

Further reading

• “Jon”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• Jonowie in PWN's encyclopedia

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Jon c (genitive Jons)

1. a male given name, a medieval form of Johannes ( =John)
3. abbreviation of Jona (biblical book): Jon.