Lee.
this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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Nonexistent in neither Scandinavian nor middle-eastern countries.
Doesn't really exist in the Slavic countries, so I wouldn't say it's universal.
Hard to say. Like, do "Ivan", "Giovanni" and "John" count as the same, or different names? What about Latin "Amanda" (to be loved) vs. Japanese ζ/Ai (love)? How do we even count this?
Ivan, Giovanni, John, Jean, Shaun, Sean, Shane, Zane, Ian, Jan, Yves, Juan, Johannes, Yohan, and more...
The name means "gift". Pretty universal.
Everyone is saying it means "gift" but Wikipedia (as well as an embroidery my grandma gave me when I was young!) says it comes from Yohanan/Johanan ΧΧΦΉΧΦΈΧ ΦΈΧβ (YΓ΄αΈ₯ΔnΔn), which means "YHWH (Yahweh/God) is gracious", with gracious being used in the form of "merciful" or "forgiving".
Which can kind of mean the same thing but is also different enough. Johnathan, however, does mean "God has given".
TIL that John and Johnathan are not different versions of the same name!
Ironically, all the variations you mentioned do not have the gift part, except for the letter 'n' :)
They all originate from Johnathan, which in Hebrew means, literally "God gave", the "Joh" part meaning "God", and "Nathan" meaning "gave".
is Bogdan another cognate, then? from the same root?
Though Bogdan does mean god given, the roots are Slavic.
Despite how many forms it takes, it isn't very common in the muslim world or asia which make up for a vast proportion of the world. So many of the names variations are within Europe.
I'm sure "gift" as a name is popular in those regions, too, even if it doesn't stem from the same root.
Theodore, Mateo, matthew, jonathan, jesse, gia, Anjali, Doris. Theres like 30 more, I didnt notice a super common asian name, anjali is fairly common in india. But yeah name meaning gift is probably up there.
Also yahya in arabic
ΩΨΩΩ
[X] Shaaauuuuuun!
Names with the same meaning is an interesting one. Id say that counts, I hadnt even thought about that!
I'd also allow variations of the name, John is Yuhanna in arabic.
I don't know the answer, but at least this gives us some way to actually count this:
- check which languages encompass 90% (or more) of the native speakers of Earth
- check the most names that fit 90% (or more) of the native speakers of each language
- sum up names across languages that you deemed to be "the same", like John and Yuhanna
There'll be a tiny bit of error there, but given that you're focusing only on the most common name, I guess that it's fine.
I wonder if there's some previous research on that. Digging further yielded nothing for me. (You got me curious, too.)
Yeah that sounds like a very reasonable approach. Ofc I'm not gonna do it lol.
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Probably any form of Maria, which is for both male/female. There are many documented usages of the name BCE.
The most common first name in the world is Maria, and the most common last name in the world is Wang. Erfo the most common name in the world is Maria Wang.
Joseph/ Yousuf, Daniel/ Danyal. Again anything universal is Abrahamic just bc of what high proportion of the world is Christian/ Muslim/ Jew.
Iβd assume Mary/Mariam/Maria is more common because there are fewer options for women
Yep thats absolutely right. Elena too, behind Maria ofc.
I find that Ana beats out Maria only because only the english spell it/pronounce it different (Hanna). Everyone else does Ana.
But Mary has an absurd higher usage.
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Anna
I don't know about first names, but as for middle names, I've noticed a 75% chance your middle name will be James if you're a guy and Marie if you're a woman. I also attended school somewhere where, I kid you not, every shop owner and public service manager was named either John or Julie.
Mary
Steve
I think you straight up ignored OP's explanation of their question. OP explicitly addressed why Mohammad is not "the most universal name" by his meaning.
Then I guess I don't understand the question? Was it not what the most common name in the world is? I don't have many sources to go off of, but according to the site I posted, Mohammed is the most common male name in Africa, Asia and the most common in the world. If it's the most common name in the world, it would make sense that it also happens to be the most common in the muslim community and possibly other communities as well.
If this was not the question, then what was?
OP is kind of asking which names are common in the largest variety of places. Is there a name that's kinda- common on every continent?
Okay, I think I understand now. Looking at the names for Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania, the names David and Maria seem to consistently be in the top 20. I'm intentionally excluding Asia, because their names seem to be wildly different compared to everywhere else.
Does this answer the question better?
yeah, you got it. obviously, since we're trying to balance multiple different factors, it's not necessarily a "correct" response, but it addresses the question directly and well.
I haven't met a single woman named this