# Forum Learning Russian Language Resources for Studying Russian Russian Names  Russian Equivalent name for the English name John

## JonB

Hi! 
I was wondering what the Russian equivalent names would be for the Enlgish names of John and Jonathan. Thanks!

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## Бармалей

Actual Russian "equivalent":
Иван/ Ivan
If you want what YOUR name is actually in Russian, it is:
Джон/ Dzhon

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## JonB

Hi Barmaley! 
Thanks!

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## Бармалей

No problem. Just do us all a favor, and don't do something crazy like tatoo it on your arse.   ::

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## JonB

LOL.  No worries about that   ::

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## BlackMage

Джон - plain and simple.  I don't like how people equate certain common American names to certain common Russian names.  If you'd like to be called by a Russian name, just pick any old one.  Certainly Иван isn't any closer to John than Василий, despite what online translators might tell you.  Moreover, Ivan is at least somewhat common in America.

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## TATY

> Джон - plain and simple.  I don't like how people equate certain common American names to certain common Russian names.  If you'd like to be called by a Russian name, just pick any old one.  Certainly Иван isn't any closer to John than Василий, despite what online translators might tell you.  Moreover, Ivan is at least somewhat common in America.

 Excuse me, but John existed for hundreds of years before any John ever set foot in what is now America. 
They are called English names, because they belong to the English language. 
And names do translate. Yes John ---> Иван is much much more ambiguous than Gregory ---> Григорий or Katherine ----> Екатерина, but they do derive from the same name. 
The Biblical Hebrew name *Yonochan* (Йонохан) [short for a phrase meaning "Whom Jehovah gave"] entered Septuagint Greek as *Ioannis*. It then entered Old Church Slavonic as *Iоan* which then became *Иван* in Russian. 
To get to English it went to Septuagint Greek *Ioannis*, then to Latin *Ioannes/Joannes*, then to old Germanic *Johannes, Johan*, then to English *John*. 
The name Jonathan came from Yonochan much more directly. 
I agree, if your name is John, when you go to Russian you don't call yourself Ivan. But the guy did ask how to translate his name. And this is why Ivan is closer to John, than Vasiliy is. 
BTW Vasiliy is the Russian equivalent of the English name Basil (from Greek βασιλευς (Basileus). 
There is more to etymology than words sounding or looking the same.

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## BlackMage

Fair enough.

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## Бармалей

> Джон - plain and simple.  I don't like how people equate certain common American names to certain common Russian names.  If you'd like to be called by a Russian name, just pick any old one.  Certainly Иван isn't any closer to John than Василий, despite what online translators might tell you.  Moreover, Ivan is at least somewhat common in America.

 Владилен or Пятилетка ought to do the trick of distinguishing him...  ::

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## BlackMage

> Владилен or Пятилетка ought to do the trick of distinguishing him...

 Actually in my original draft I had "Трактор" in place of "Василий".

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## Leof

I agree with *TATY*, upon the whole.
But there exist one more Russian equivalent of John - Иоанн - it's a translation for Bible's Saint John, German Johann will be Иог*а*нн, Й*о*хан(н), Йох*а*н(н). 
You know, actually (as *Barmaley* said before) your name sounds ok in Russian without translation - some people from Russian/English(or just not Russian) families have Russian Second name and Джон as their first name - I can't recall any famous one, but I met such people. Such names like:  Патрик (Patrick), Кристиан(Christian), Мартин(Martin), Каролина(Caroline) - are used in Russia as well, as far as I know. It's not typical, but it happens here and there. Eventually there is the row of English/German names which were taken in Russian and were not translated in Russian at all - like Robert, Edward, Henry, even Charles - yes like English monarchs as well! They are Russian Роберт, Эдуард, Генри, Чарлз and there exist some other as well!

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## TATY

> I agree with *TATY*, upon the whole.
> But there exist one more Russian equivalent of John - Иоанн - it's a translation for Bible's Saint John, German Johann will be Иог*а*нн, Й*о*хан(н), Йох*а*н(н). 
> You know, actually (as *Barmaley* said before) your name sounds ok in Russian without translation - some people from Russian/English(or just not Russian) families have Russian Second name and Джон as their first name - I can't recall any famous one, but I met such people. Such names like:  Патрик (Patrick), Кристиан(Christian), Мартин(Martin), Каролина(Caroline) - are used in Russia as well, as far as I know. It's not typical, but it happens here and there. Eventually there is the row of English/German names which were taken in Russian and were not translated in Russian at all - like Robert, Edward, Henry, even Charles - yes like English monarchs as well! They are Russian Роберт, Эдуард, Генри, Чарлз and there exist some other as well!

 The famous Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak is actually called Каролина something (I think this might be a German name since there are lots of those in Ukraine). Anyway, she entered a singing contest in Moscow where there was another girl with the same first and last name as her, so she reversed Каролина to get Ани Лорак.

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## kalinka_vinnie

I thought John came from this (curtosy behindthename.com) 
English form of Johannes, which was the Latin form of the Greek name Ιωαννης (Ioannes), itself derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan meaning "YAHWEH is gracious" 
BTW, Leof: *On the whole*, not upon the whole!  ::

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## basurero

Джонатон - Johnathon >??????????????????????/

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## Бармалей

> Джонатон - Johnathon >??????????????????????/

 Maybe, based on "орфография" using ф > т? Thus Джонафон?

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## Dimitri

> Johnathon

 "Джонатон". Слышится как "Джонатн"

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## JonB

Thanks to everyone for all the info!   ::

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## wanja

> Originally Posted by basurero  Johnathon   "Джонатон". Слышится как "Джонатн"

 Это имя по рссски пишется "Джонатан". Русский эквивалент - Ионафан(теперь встречается редко). В Библии - сын царя Саула.

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## Remyisme

Johnathan comes from Hebrew "Yahonatan" = Jehovah gave.

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## jimita

> Excuse me, but John existed for hundreds of years before any John ever set foot in what is now America. 
> They are called English names, because they belong to the English language. 
> And names do translate. Yes John ---> Иван is much much more ambiguous than Gregory ---> Григорий or Katherine ----> Екатерина, but they do derive from the same name. 
> The Biblical Hebrew name *Yonochan* (Йонохан) [short for a phrase meaning "Whom Jehovah gave"] entered Septuagint Greek as *Ioannis*. It then entered Old Church Slavonic as *Iоan* which then became *Иван* in Russian. 
> To get to English it went to Septuagint Greek *Ioannis*, then to Latin *Ioannes/Joannes*, then to old Germanic *Johannes, Johan*, then to English *John*. 
> The name Jonathan came from Yonochan much more directly. 
> I agree, if your name is John, when you go to Russian you don't call yourself Ivan. But the guy did ask how to translate his name. And this is why Ivan is closer to John, than Vasiliy is. 
> BTW Vasiliy is the Russian equivalent of the English name Basil (from Greek βασιλευς (Basileus). 
> There is more to etymology than words sounding or looking the same.

 My actual name would be Ivana or Ivanka. SOmehow I can't quite see myself as either of these, so I'd just go with the French pronounciation and be Zhanette.  
It's funny...there are lots of Mexicans and Nicaraguans around here. THey dont understand "Janet" but when I tell them it's the same as Juanita then they get it.

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## BlackMage

> My actual name would be Ivana or Ivanka. SOmehow I can't quite see myself as either of these, so I'd just go with the French pronounciation and be Zhanette.  
> It's funny...there are lots of Mexicans and Nicaraguans around here. THey dont understand "Janet" but when I tell them it's the same as Juanita then they get it.

 Um... Janet != Ивана, which to my knowledge isn't even a name.

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## flowforever

> Um... Janet != Ивана, which to my knowledge isn't even a name.

 There is a name Ивана but it's not a russian name...it has bulgarian roots. But it is very similar to a russian name Иоанна.

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## basurero

Я знаю массу девушек, которые называются "Ивана". Они все из стран, которые составляли Югославию.

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## Rtyom

-у которых имя Ивана- 
Можно сказать "которых зовут Иванами", так лучше, но можно перепутать с особями мужского полу.  ::

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## Ramil

> Originally Posted by BlackMage  Джон - plain and simple.  I don't like how people equate certain common American names to certain common Russian names.  If you'd like to be called by a Russian name, just pick any old one.  Certainly Иван isn't any closer to John than Василий, despite what online translators might tell you.  Moreover, Ivan is at least somewhat common in America.   Excuse me, but John existed for hundreds of years before any John ever set foot in what is now America. 
> They are called English names, because they belong to the English language. 
> And names do translate. Yes John ---> Иван is much much more ambiguous than Gregory ---> Григорий or Katherine ----> Екатерина, but they do derive from the same name. 
> The Biblical Hebrew name *Yonochan* (Йонохан) [short for a phrase meaning "Whom Jehovah gave"] entered Septuagint Greek as *Ioannis*. It then entered Old Church Slavonic as *Iоan* which then became *Иван* in Russian. 
> To get to English it went to Septuagint Greek *Ioannis*, then to Latin *Ioannes/Joannes*, then to old Germanic *Johannes, Johan*, then to English *John*. 
> The name Jonathan came from Yonochan much more directly. 
> I agree, if your name is John, when you go to Russian you don't call yourself Ivan. But the guy did ask how to translate his name. And this is why Ivan is closer to John, than Vasiliy is. 
> BTW Vasiliy is the Russian equivalent of the English name Basil (from Greek βασιλευς (Basileus). 
> There is more to etymology than words sounding or looking the same.

 Almost all biblical names exist in all languages where people read bible. Back in old times,new born children were brought to a church for christening so the holy father (or parents) had just picked some biblical name. Those names are traditional and exist in all languages (even Arabs and Jews do have them).

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## Propp

:: 
What do you mean "even ... Jews do have them"?
Since they are bibical, they came from Jewish, aren't they?

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## jimita

> Originally Posted by jimita  My actual name would be Ivana or Ivanka. SOmehow I can't quite see myself as either of these, so I'd just go with the French pronounciation and be Zhanette.  
> It's funny...there are lots of Mexicans and Nicaraguans around here. THey dont understand "Janet" but when I tell them it's the same as Juanita then they get it.   Um... Janet != Ивана, which to my knowledge isn't even a name.

 I'm guessing this will be a huge surprise to both Ivana Trump and her daughter Ivanka..... 
but of course they are Czech, not Russian......

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## TATY

> What do you mean "even ... Jews do have them"?
> Since they are bibical, they came from Jewish, aren't they?

 That's what I was thinking. 
It's like saying, "nowadays McDonald's is everywhere, you can even find it in America"  :P

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## РусскаяДевушка

Can anyone tell me what the Russian equivalent of the name Paul is? Thanks.

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## TATY

> Can anyone tell me what the Russian equivalent of the name Paul is? Thanks.

 Павел - Pavel 
And your sig should read: 
Я люблю Юли*ю* Волков*у*

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## РусскаяДевушка

> Originally Posted by РусскаяДевушка  Can anyone tell me what the Russian equivalent of the name Paul is? Thanks.   Павел - Pavel 
> And your sig should read: 
> Я люблю Юли*ю* Волков*у*

 Thanks! Oops, lol. I'll change that.. thanks for pointing that out!   ::

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## Lev&amp;Kot

> Eventually there is the row of English/German names which were taken in Russian and were not translated in Russian at all - like Robert, Edward, Henry, even Charles - yes like English monarchs as well! They are Russian Роберт, Эдуард, Генри, Чарлз and there exist some other as well!

 In Russian tradition, there is more common to call English kings as Генрих for Henry and Карл for Charles (Генрих Восьмой и Карл Первый)...

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## Leof

t r u e

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## Pawlo

Скорее всего это будет имя Женя в мужском и женском роде.

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## Оля

> Скорее всего это будет имя Женя в мужском и женском роде.

 Евгений - это Юджин (Eugene).
А вообще-то хорошо бы все три страницы темы прочитать, прежде чем что-то писать в нее.

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## Rtyom

Парень *из* Украины, а не *с*.   ::

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## kalinka_vinnie

начинается...   ::

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## Оля

> Парень *из* Украины, а не *с*.

 Ну если так сам украинец пишет.....   ::

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## Rtyom

> Originally Posted by Rtyom  Парень *из* Украины, а не *с*.     Ну если так сам украинец пишет.....

 Если он коренной, то русский язык является ему неродным.  ::

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## Pawlo

> Originally Posted by Оля        Originally Posted by Rtyom  Парень *из* Украины, а не *с*.     Ну если так сам украинец пишет.....     Если он коренной, то русский язык является ему неродным.

 ну-ну... как же, как же. Как раз на украинском языке преподавались все предметы в школе. Ну я конечно не могу сказать, что украинский язык употребляется мной, да и большинством украинцев в повседневной жизни, нет, преобладает русский, хотя это еще зависит и от областного центра и от того, насколько человек любит тот или иной язык. А пишу я далеко не литературным текстом, но это не значит, что я его не употребляю совсем. А родным для меня являються два языка - русский и украинский, и конечно же надеюсь, что в недалеком будущем, английский станет мне хоть немножечко ближе.

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