John

From John the Baptist to King John to John Lennon to John Kerry, if I need to tell you how popular this name has been through the ages, you just haven't been paying attention. Everyone from saints to kings to popes to pop singers have been named John. Actually, the Hebrew name was more like "Johanan," but since John is the version used in the Authorized Version of the New Testament, and is the English form, that is the name we know best. Due to its extreme popularity over so many centuries, "john" has picked up at least two seperate meanings as a word rather than just being a name. "John" is a recognized synonym for a toilet, and, probably because of the habit of calling anonymous men "John Doe," prostitutes commonly refer to their customers as johns. Despite these bad associations, the name is still a reasonably good choice for a boy's name. One common nickname for John is Johnny, or its alternate spelling Johnnie, both of which are also used as names in their own right.