# Why are toilets called johns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797 "2000-06-08T21:11:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/1 "2000-06-08T21:11:03Z")
Why are toilets called johns? Very simple question . . . probably simple answer as well, but I’ve asked Cecil several times now with no response. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/2 "2000-06-08T21:20:46Z")
I heard that the toilet was invented by a guy named Thomas Crapper. Hence use the crapper, take a crap, etc. Dubious way to be remembered if you ask me. …Just looked it up… This site says the word ‘crap’ may have a different origin. [http://www.plumbingstore.com/psthomas.html](http://www.plumbingstore.com/psthomas.html) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/3 "2000-06-08T21:26:09Z")
Also found this: > [@](#): > > But we also have Sir JOHN HARRINGTON who published a pamphlet in the 16th Century called the “Metamorphosis of Ajax” (The title is a pun…“jakes” was a common term for privy) with the full instructions for the construction of a valve closet. Still later GEORGE JENNINGS in the 18th Century made contributions that were considered the ultimate in plumbing mechanisms. Source: [http://www.toiletology.com/history.shtml](http://www.toiletology.com/history.shtml) No idea if that John has anything to do with the name. Scary how much stuff can be found searchingthe internet on toilets though! ---
**Author:** ![Val2K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3da27b/32.png) [@Val2K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Val2K)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/4 "2000-06-08T21:28:01Z")
You’re gonna love this one. . . [http://castle.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/intellectual/watercloset.html](http://castle.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/intellectual/watercloset.html) Even though Thomas Crapper invented the modern toilet, the original idea was proposed by Sir John Harington in a book whose title “is a pun on ‘a-jacques,’ or what is still called a ‘john’.” ---
**Author:** ![Val2K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3da27b/32.png) [@Val2K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Val2K)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/5 "2000-06-08T21:29:25Z")
missed it by two minutes. . . ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/6 "2000-06-08T22:21:34Z")
**Cecil Adams** on [Why do we call it a “john?”](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_379.html) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/7 "2000-06-08T22:32:03Z")
_The Dictionary of Obscenity & Taboo_ says John may be a euphemism of Jakes, as **Jeff\_42** suggested. _Crapper_ is probably from _crap_ a word much older than the Thomas Crapper story. The word orignially meant chaff, then rubbish, then feces. [Urbanlegends.com](http://www.urbanlegends.com/misc/crapper_sir_thomas.html) says > [@](#): > > The book by Wallace Reyburn, “Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper,” does exist, and it is the funniest plumbing hoax since H. L.Mencken wrote his history of the bathroom. Reyburn’s book persuaded many readers that the slang words “crap” and “crapper” derive from water closets made in England by one Mr. Crapper. Cecil weighs in on the controversy [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_377.html) ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-toilets-called-johns/21797/8 "2000-06-09T01:47:50Z")
why are toilets called john? why are prostitute’s patrons called john?