Ion (name)

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Ion is a masculine given name. The written form corresponds to two names that are different and unrelated in origin.

The first is the Greek name Ἴων (Iōn), after the mythical founder of the Ionians; the modern (demonic) Greek equivalent is Ionas.

The second name is the Romanian Ion which is equivalent to the English name John and has the same etymology as "Jon", all tracing back to the Hebrew Bible name Johanan. Another variant is Ioan, the Romanian name for John the Baptist (Ioan Botezătorul). Common diminutives are Ionel and Ionuț. Its female form is Ioana. The surname Ionescu is derived from Ion. However, Ion can also be a surname in Romanian. The "Ion" spelling is also used as a male forename in the Basque language, again as a cognate of "John" and sometimes used interchangeably with "Jon".