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Why is English the only language having John as a shortened version of another name?
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I more frequently see it spelled Jonathan, making the shortened version Jon; have friends who spell it that way. I think John stands alone as a name and isn't ordinarily considered a short form for anything. Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with another language to know diminutive forms in anything but English  .
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i don't think it is.. but i'll let someone else think up some examples with John..
certainly in italian, there are names like "Michaelathony" that are double name.. the second half does not get a capital. and for girls, Marygrace. (some one will be kind enough to provide the proper italian spelling, i am sure)
and in english-- the femine version of John, (Joan) can also be a double name.. Joanne.
i suspect johnathan is double name.. John Nathan run together, the only one i can think of for a man's name is the Francisxavier is sometimes run together..
but as Angel pointed out.. every one is creative-- even if they only express it in creating a name.
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Jean is French for John. Hans is German for John, isn't it? Beheaded Johannes?
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Why is Russian the only language having Sasha as a shortened version of another name?
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John / Jonathan: two distinct names.
Jonathan:
from jo - nathan, Hebrew for "God gives"
(related to Nathaniel, which is nathan-el = "gift from God")
John-with-an-h is indeed analogous to the German Hans / Johannes but comes
from jo - khanan, Hebrew for "God is merciful"
(Been there, done that. I have a son Jonathan; we've seen all kinds of well-intended alternative mis-spellings: Jonothan, Jonathon, Johnathan, Jhonathan, etc. )
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Well, JTD, I was going to explain that John and Jon (short for Jonathan) are two different names and John isn't short for anything, but Wof-doc beat me to it.
John has for a long time been one of the most popular names in Christian countries/families. It takes a good many forms -- John, Jean, Johann, Iohannis, Juan, Giovanni, Johannus, etc.
Short forms of names are also interesting and numerous, and some are a bit improbable. Among my favorites are Stosh for Stanislaus, Gus for Constantinos, Kit for Christopher and there is one for Alexander which slips my mind at the moment.
*post edit: No sooner I posted this than I remembered that Sandy is a short form for Alexander.
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Which leads to the question of whether any other language substitutes a man's name,like we use "john," as the euphemism for bathroom or latrine? Which I sometimes call a "jane," now, just to keep the ladies honest!
Does anyone know if this occurs in any other language but English. And does anybody know, offhand, how it came to be so?
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Michelantonio ( possible, but I never heard it) and Mariagrazia..
The most famous example is certainly Michelangelo (Buonarroti) = Michele + Angelo.
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Ok, this explains just about everything. And Faldage, if sasha is Russian for I'm suprised. I should hav put 'as far as I know' in the original post.
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