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".