Johannes is a
Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "
John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek name (Ιωάννης) and
Classical Latin (
Ioannes), itself derived from the Hebrew name
Yehochanan meaning "
Yahweh is gracious". The name became popular in Northern Europe, especially in Germany. Common German variants for Johannes are
Johann,
Hans (diminutized to
Hänschen or
Hänsel, known from "
Hansel and Gretel", a
fairy tale by the
Grimm brothers),
Hannes,
Jens (from Danish) and
Jan (from Dutch). Jan is a variant of John known in Catalan, Czech, Slovenian, Dutch, Scandinavian, Cornish, German, Afrikaans and Northern Germanic. Polish has its own variant
Janusz as has Slovenian "Janez".