# John



## dan9184

Hi,
How is 'john' written in hebrew?


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## berndf

Do you mean how the English name John is transcribed with Aramaic/Hebrew letters? = שון
Or do you mean the Hebrew name from which John is derived? = יוחנן


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## JamesM

Just out of curiosity, what would be the transliteration of the Hebrew name from which John is derived?  (I hope you don't mind my asking)

In other words, if you had to write the sounds of  יוחנן  in English, what would it look like?


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## Flaminius

Hello *JamesM*,

 יוחנן is usually transliterated into "yochanan" where ch is the German ach-laut or a more breathy variety.


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## JamesM

Flaminius said:


> Hello *JamesM*,
> 
> יוחנן is usually transliterated into "yochanan" where ch is the German ach-laut or a more breathy variety.


 
Thanks, flaminius.  I can't read a single letter in Hebrew,  so I appreciate the help.  It seems that the German Johann is fairly close, then.


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## berndf

The Western European names John, Johannes, Hans, Jan, Jean, Giovanni etc. are derived from Latin Ioannes which is a transliteration of the Greek rendering (Ιωάννης) of the Hebrew name.



Flaminius said:


> ...where ch is the German ach-laut or a more breathy variety.


 
The pronunciation like _ch_ in German _ach_ or Scottish _loch_ is modern Hebrew. The other one, the "dark h", like the _h_ in Arabic _Mohammad_ is classical Hebrew. As far as I know, Jemenite Jews still pronounce it this way.


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## Tamar

> John is transcribed with Aramaic/Hebrew letters? = שון


 
The name John in Hebrew is written like this: ג'ון
שון  is the name Sean.


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## berndf

Tamar said:


> The name John in Hebrew is written like this: ג'ון
> שון is the name Sean.


 
You are right of course.


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## jdotjdot89

It becomes a little more interesting when you're trying to write out "Jonathan" in Hebrew.  You can (and people do) write ג'ונתן, but it just looks so wrong to me.  I prefer יונתן.  To me, it's the same as the situation for a male named "Noah" in English.  Transliterated back into Hebrew, it's נאה.  But that is also an actual girl's name, and the real Hebrew for it is נח.  I would just write and say נח.  I do this for most Anglicized Hebrew names when I'm speaking in Hebrew, if I continue to use the Hebrew accentuation and pronunciation for the name.


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## cfu507

jdotjdot89 said:


> It becomes a little more interesting when you're trying to write out "Jonathan" in Hebrew. You can (and people do) write ג'ונתן, but it just looks so wrong to me. I prefer יונתן. To me, it's the same as the situation for a male named "Noah" in English. Transliterated back into Hebrew, it's נאה. But that is also an actual girl's name, and the real Hebrew for it is נח. I would just write and say נח. I do this for most Anglicized Hebrew names when I'm speaking in Hebrew, if I continue to use the Hebrew accentuation and pronunciation for the name.


 
The Hebrew female namey you mean is Noa נועה.
Noah is נח in Hebrew, as you said. In English you don't pronance the ח.

I agree also with Tamar, the name would be ג'ון.

Also, the name Jonathan is written: יהונתן or יונתן (mosly with ה).


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