Names That Mean Gracious

Anže was originally a nickname for Janez, a Slovene form of Johannes, but now ranks in the Slovene Top 20 as an independent name.

A Gaelic form of Jane which shares its simple, sleek look – but is much rarer. The Anglicized form Sheena peaked at #80 in the US in 1984, inspired by singer Sheena Easton.

A simple and appealing multi-cultural form of John, but Americans will be baffled by all those vowels.

A Scandinavian short form of Johanna, properly pronounced with a Y sound at the start, but would likely be read as the more prosaic "John-a" in an English-speaking context.

This feminine form of Jean was most popular in the 1930s in its home country, and in the 1960s in the US. It's fallen off the Top 1000 list since, but perhaps cute retro nickname Jeannie could tempt some vintage-loving parents back.

Anno is an extreme rarity: a simple, familiar-sounding name with deep history that is completely unknown in the US and rare in its native Germany. Anno is the name of a saint also known as Hanno, a 10th century archbishop of Cologne also known as Hanno of Worms.

Together with the more common (in France) Jeannine spelling, this feminine form of Jean was most popular in the 1930s in its home country, and in the 1960s in the US. It's fallen off the Top 1000 list since, but perhaps cute retro nickname Jeannie could tempt some vintage-loving parents back.

This common name for both boys and girls in Scandinavia would definitely work better as a feminine name in the U.S.

The prefix La- was historically used by the Free Blacks of New Orleans in the nineteenth century to indicate paternity. Thus, someone named Lashawn was the son of Shawn, a phonetic spelling of Sean, the Irish variation of John.

In Germany, Jannis outranks its parent name, Johannes. Virtually no American babies were given the name in the last year on record.

Johannes never caught on in the US, but popular European short form Hannes may be more accessible.

With its upbeat Slavic/Scandinavian air, it has the most potential of all the Jan names.

A respelling of Giovanni which makes the Italian pronunciation – three syllables, rather than four – more clear. Jovani and its variant Jovanni were both Top 1000 picks for the first decade and a half of the 20th century. They are particularly popular in the US's Latino community.

Those "Where's Gretel?" jokes will get old pretty fast.

Irish form of Johnny

More modern options: Shaw, Shay, or even Sean.

Classically, the De- prefix indicates "son of," so any variation of this name could work for the child of a dad named Shawn or Sean.

Gian sounds (almost) like John, so there's some potential for confusion, but the spelling makes it unmistakeably Italian. It could be a solution if longer names like Gianni and Gianluca aren't your style.

Estonian translation of John, currently ranking in Estonia's Top 20.

A simplified spelling of the French name Yannick. It's almost unknown to English speakers, but could be an interesting Euro-chic alternative to the more popular Henrik.