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Summary
- No one named Jack appears in the Bible; English Bibles use John, the name of John the Baptist and the apostle John.
- Jack came from Jankin, a medieval English pet form of Jan, itself a form of John from the Old French Jehan; French Jacques may have had some influence.
- John comes from the Hebrew Yohanan, “Yahweh is gracious,” built on the verb hanan, “to be gracious,” which appears in Exodus 34:6 and Numbers 6:25.
- By the late 14th century jack was an ordinary English word for any man; it also came to name machines and, from the 17th century, the lowest court card.
- C. S. Lewis, born Clive Staples Lewis, took the name Jacksie at four and was called Jack for the rest of his life.
- Jack was the most common boys’ name in England and Wales from 1996 to 2008 and reached 11th in the United States in 2021.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Behind the Name, “Jack,” “Jankin,” “Jan” and “John,” with popularity figures for the United States (Social Security Administration) and England and Wales (Office for National Statistics). https://www.behindthename.com/name/jack
- Online Etymology Dictionary, “Jack” and “jack (n.1, n.2, n.3),” quoting David Parlett, A History of Card Games (1991). https://www.etymonline.com/word/Jack
- Strong’s Hebrew 3110, Yochanan; 2603, chanan; and 2587, channun, Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3110.htm
- “C. S. Lewis,” Wikipedia, citing Douglas Gresham, Jack’s Life: The Life of C. S. Lewis (2005). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis
- Qur’an 19:7, Sahih International translation, Quran.com. https://quran.com/19/7
- Scripture quotations: John 1:6; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 6:25, English Standard Version. Reference: Mark 1:19–20.
