Well, the German version of John is Johann or Johannes. When you look at it that way, you can see how “Hans” is a diminutive version of John.
You need to check this Web site. It gives etymologies and language variants for a lot of names.
Jack is a diminutive of John, but I don’t think it’s related to Jacob. Jake is a diminutive of Jacob, and I think James is also an English version of this name. We had a thread about this some time ago, I’ll try to find it.
Also, Étienne is traditionally the French version of Stephen, but Stéphane became very popular at some point and might today be more popular than Étienne. I’m wondering if it might have anything to do with the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, whose birth name was Étienne.
Yusuf.
Although it’s worth noting that history’s most famous “Che” was properly named “Ernesto,” not “Jose.”
Jesus’s mom has been honored in many cultures: Mary, Maria, Marianne, Marie, etc.
Actor Fyvush Finkel says that his first name translates to Philip.
I met a Russian-born haberdasher/musician named Glinka who said his name was Russian for Philip.
This might or might not be true in an etymological sense. There are versions of names that are directly related to each other (like “Philip” and “Felipe”). However, there are also pairs of names that are comprised of a name from a minority culture that people from that minority choose to associate with a name from the majority culture. I seem to recall that this happens frequently with Gaelic names – names that aren’t etymologically related to English names are nevertheless “translated” as such.
Russian for Philip is Filipp. However, Russian has a complex system of diminutives that can result in forms that seem completely unrelated to the original names. Take a look at all the different form used, for example, in The Brothers Karamazov. It seems Russians never use the same name twice.
More on Russian diminutives. I knew a Russian named George who went by Zhora.
This site says:
The entry on James*, strange as it may seem, is correct.
Here’s the story, as well as I can recall it. James and Jacob are etymologically derived from the same source–the Hebrew Yakov (or is it Yakob, I forget). The wierdness comes from French, where Yokov in some places came to be something like “Jaomes” (dropped the k, softened the ending sound to its nasal equivalent), and in other places came to be something like “Jacobes” (keeping the “k” sound in.)
This explains the majority of names in the list at the link pretty clearly, and it’s not hard to see how those first few got in there as well. Diego easily comes from Jacob, Giacomo easily comes from something like “Jacomes.” I think the rest are pretty clear.
The etymology I gave is, I am certain, correct in general though I may have gotten some details wrong. My explanation about Diego and Giacomo is made up on the fly, but it looks plausible to me, and since the vast majority of entries in the dictionary you link to are, I know for sure, correct, it looks to me like these two are almost certainly also correct.
-Kris
*That entry looked to me to be closer to the top of the page than the bottom…
I meant all the James-names at the end of the Jacob list, not the bottom of the page. I was having a vague morning.
My guess would have been that it goes back to Latin, with alternative forms Iacobus and Iacomus.
Exactly right. Thanks for reminding me!
-Kris
I’ve always understood that “Diego” is the Spanish equivalent of “James”; if so, how did it get so far removed from the original? And what about “Jaime”?
Iacomus → Iaco → Iago → Diago → Diego
or something like that
The one I can’t figure out is French Thierry.
Guinevere: Genevieve, Gwenhwyfar, Jennifer
Gwendolen: there is actually a Gundelindus equivalent for Saint Gwendolen
–gigi, aka Gwendolen
Ivan as well.
Write Juan in the original Latin alphabet: IVAN
My own name is María de la Luz - shortened to Mariluz. English Mary-Lou, French Marie-Lu. The only version which actually means anything is the original Spanish, the other two happened when someone met a Spanish Mariluz and wrote the name down without asking “how do you spell it?”
The weird one there is the James.
The original name is Jacob. Sant Jacob… Santiago… San Diego.
"Many of these first names have Germanic origins, which came into use during German invasions into France and which were considered to be very fashionable. Charles, Gérard, Guillaume, Louis or Thierry are examples of first names with Germanic origin."
"The boy’s name Thierry is of French origin. Variant of Theodoric, and not, as it is sometimes mistaken for, the French form of Terry. …The boy’s name Theodoric is of Old German origin, and its meaning is “power of the tribe.” The original form of Dietrich, Derek and Dirk. Theodoric has 12 variant forms: Derek, Derrick, Dieter, Dietrich, Dirck, Dirk, Rick, Ted, Teodorico, Thedric, Thedrick and Theodric."
That second site seems to reach just a little though.