Johannes
The German and Scandinavian form of John, carrying the Hebrew sense "God is gracious". It stays rare in Poland: around 550 men hold it, and most Poles have likely never met one.
Johannes Pronunciation
Johannes is pronounced yo-KHAHN-nes (/jɔˈxannɛs/).
What Johannes means
Where Johannes comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Johannes began as the Hebrew Yochanan, a name that means "Yahweh is gracious." Greek speakers turned it into Ioannes, Latin into Johannes, and from there it entered German and Scandinavian life as one of their steadiest names. The meaning stayed simple. A child given this name was, in effect, named for an act of grace.
In German lands the name belonged to people who changed how others lived. Johannes Gutenberg, who printed his Bible around 1455, made books something ordinary readers could hold. Johannes Kepler worked out how the planets move. The name did real labour in the world long before it reached a Polish parish.
Scandinavia kept it close too, from Norway down through Denmark, where Johannes filled church records for generations. It has no diminutives of its own to soften it, no cross-gender twin. What it offers is the plain Hebrew sense underneath: God is gracious, or in Polish, Bóg jest łaskawy.
How many people are named Johannes
1 in 38741 men in Poland is named Johannes. 551 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1271 among male names.
Johannes's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Johannes as a middle name
Johannes is a first name for 551 men in Poland and a middle name for another 685, a 45/55 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 276th, between Bazyli (685) and Lechosław (685).
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#274 Jonatan688
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#275 Bazyli685
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#276 Johannes685
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#277 Lechosław685
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#278 Matthew676