Jonathan (name)

:"Not to be confused with John"

Infobox Given Name Revised
name = Jonathan


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pronunciation=
gender = Male
meaning = "Gift of God"
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origin = Hebrew
related names = Jon
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Jonathan (in Hebrew, "יְהוֹנָתָן" / "יוֹנָתָן", Standard "Yonatan" / "Yəhonatan" Tiberian "unicode|Yônāṯān" / "unicode|Yəhônāṯān"; "Whom YHWH gave", "God's gift", "Gift of God" or "God has given") is a common given name. He was a son of King Saul in the Hebrew Bible, and a close friend of David.

Alternative spellings of Jonathan include Jonathon, Johnathan, Jonatan, Jonothon, Jonothan, Johnathon, and Yonatan (a common name in Hebrew). Biblical variants include Yehonathan, Y'honathan, Yhonathan, Yonatan, Yonaton, Yonoson, Yeonoson or Yehonasan. In Israel, "Yoni" is a common nickname for "Yonatan" (Jonathan) in the same way Bill is for William in English. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=ID_X-Zi9jEcC&pg=PA342&dq=%22Dudi+for+David%22&sig=59ZI6bNvyTxAE1_A_yW3eXMyqJk The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition - Page 342 by Dan Isaac Slobin] ] .

Nicknames include Jon, John, Jonn, Yoni, Yonny, Jonny, Jona, Jonnie, Jonty, and Jonno (all with spelling variations), as well as Jack, Jay, Jake, Jon Jon, and less frequently, Nathan or Nate.
Etymologically, Jonathan is not a variation of "John", but a longer version of "Nathan". Names with similar meanings include Theodore in Greek and Bogdan in Slavonic.

The name day for Jonathan is 1 March in France, 22 December in Sweden, and 29 December in Germany.

References