Jonas

Jonas is a masculine given name and also a surname used in many parts of the world. In given-name usage, it is especially common in Northern and Central Europe, including the Nordic countries, Germany, Poland, and the Dutch-speaking regions, and is also found in English-speaking countries. The name is generally understood as a form related to Jonah, reflecting the Hebrew name Yonah, meaning dove, and it reached its modern forms through Greek and Latin transmissions such as Iōnas and Ionas.

As a given name, Jonas can stand on its own or appear as a regional variant of related names. In some languages it is spelled with diacritics (for example Jónas in Icelandic or Jonáš in Czech/Slovak), while in others it is written as Jonas without modification. The form has been popularized by religious and literary associations, as well as by contemporary public figures.

Notable people with the given name include Jonas Salk (1914–1995), the American virologist who developed the first widely used polio vaccine; Jonas Mekas (1922–2019), a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker and artist; Jonas Björkman (born 1972), a Swedish former professional tennis player; and Jonas Valančiūnas (born 1992), a Lithuanian professional basketball player. The name also appears in fiction, such as Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry’s novel The Giver.

Jonas is also found as a surname in Germanic and Nordic communities, with families and individuals bearing the surname Jonas, and it serves as the origin for the band name Jonas Brothers, derived from the family surname of its members.