The Journal

Stories about names, and the people who choose them.

Where names come from, how they travel, the traditions behind them, and what a century and a half of records can show.

Language · 2 min readOne name, many languages: the travels of JohnSeán, Iain, Giovanni, Hans, Jean, Juan, Ivan and Jānis are all, in a sense, the same name. Following John across a continent shows how names carry culture.

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