# “JH” in Spanish **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463 "2025-05-17T00:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463/1 "2025-05-17T00:13:39Z")
The current leader of the PGA Championship tournament is Jhonattan Vegas. He’s originally from Venezuela. Over 40 years ago, I took 4 years of high school Spanish and although my memory is admittedly spotty, I don’t ever remember seeing “jh”. Is it common or is this just parents spelling a name however they wanted? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463/2 "2025-05-17T00:56:09Z")
Jh is pronounced like “J” in English instead of the soft h sound of J in Spanish. I’ve only seen it used in names. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463/3 "2025-05-17T01:10:12Z")
It’s a misspelling of Jonathan. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463/4 "2025-05-17T02:20:13Z")
There’s a Filipino singer named [Jhoanna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhoanna). I was curious about the pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463/5 "2025-05-17T02:31:31Z")
I had a guy working under me a few years back, his name was Jhon. It wad pronounced Juh-hon and he was…easily excited by the mispronunciation of his name. According to him, his mom said there was no connection to the name John. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463/6 "2025-05-17T04:09:31Z")
It’s used in certain Latin American cultures to yes, put a clear English-style “J” sound on there as opposed to the Spanish /x/ sound which is sort of like an “h” in English. I’ve mostly seen it in the northern part of South America (Venezuela/Colombia), not so much if ever among Spanish, Argentina/Chile, or Mexico. Jhonen Vasquez (creator of Invader Zim, among other things) is probably one of the more known people given this style name. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jh-in-spanish/1018463/7 "2025-05-17T05:12:22Z")
There have been a number of Latino players in Major League Baseball in the last 20 years whose given names start with “Jh”; the ones who immediately came to mind for me were Jhonny Peralta, a Dominican native who was a shortstop for several teams, and Jhoulys Chacin, a Venezuelan pitcher, mostly for the Colorado Rockies. That said, I don’t know what the correct pronunciations of their names are.