Here’s one from the curiosity shop. Thanks to Sarah Winter for suggesting St. John as Name of the Day.
Plenty of parents choose saints’ names for their children. But St. John is that rare given name where the “saint” is preserved. It seems awkward – and it could be – but St. John is probably best thought of as a place name.
The name John was popular at the time of Christ. Two of Jesus’ best known followers were John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. Thanks to their influence, John has remained a common name ever since. Both men are considered saints.
Consult an atlas, and you’ll find plenty of St. Johns on the map in the UK, US, Canada and the Caribbean. In France, it’s St. Jean. And that seems to be the origin of the earliest bearers of the name – Normans “de St. Jean” came to England avec William the Conqueror.
St. John has persisted as a surname. There are currently about 15,000 individuals surnamed St. John in the US. And, just like Carter and Jackson and Reese, some parents promoted St. John to the first spot.
That could still be a little awkward. But back in the day, the pronunciation of St. John was SIN gin. It’s a mash-up of Old English and French, weathered over the years into something that sounds like it could be a perfectly valid given name. (If you’re still scratching your head, consider that Sinclair evolved from St. Claire.)
The pronunciation inspired some parents to adopt a phonetic spelling for their sons. Sinjin is most common. You might stumble across a Sinjun or Sinjon, too.
Regardless of spelling, the name has never registered in the US Top 1000, but there are a few notable bearers, including:
- St. John Philby, a writer and explorer with an interest in ornithology (there’s a partridge named in his honor) and at least one foot in the spy game;
- St. John Smith, a former professional beach volleyball player who graduated from UCLA to an occasional gig as a commentator.
St. John seems most often used in fiction as a modest joke – to emphasize a character’s status as very British.
In Four Weddings and a Funeral, the priest butchers the groom’s name in Wedding Two:
Priest: why I, Bernard Godfrey SAINT JOHN Delaney …
Groom: why I, Bernard Geoffrey SINJIN Delaney ….
There’s also A View to a Kill, the 1985 James Bond adventure. When Bond goes undercover at a high end horse auction, he uses the alias James St. John Smith.
So St. John has a nicely posh flair. But that could change.
For the past few years, an indie horror flick has been in the works. The title? Sin-Jin. The plot involves a prisoner named Sin-Jin Smyth. The director didn’t seem to recognize the name’s roots – or pop culture reference to James Bond. Instead he landed on the name because it “sounds wicked.” Roddy Piper plays the prisoner. A Halloween 2009 release is planned.
While St. John seems like a quirky, historic choice, he might be best left in the middle spot – at least in the US.
B. says
June 27, 2011 at 10:27 PMUm…I LOVE this name. I saw it first in Jane Eyre, but now that I know I’ve been mispronouncing it, I don’t like it as much. It would be a cool last name pronounced “saint John.”
St-Pierre says
June 19, 2011 at 7:49 PM“Sinjun” may have it’s roots in French, but as a native French speaker, it is NOT the French pronunciation! But as the article states “It
St.john says
March 8, 2011 at 7:06 AMMy name is St.john and I’m not really stuffy or particularly English in any way. The name comes from Malta where the Knights of the order of St.john of Jerusalem settled in 1085. The pronunciation (sinjun) is French.
StJohn Bowers says
March 17, 2012 at 6:52 AMYes, it is French. My name is StJohn, I use no dot but do use a capital J, and always understood that the pronunciation was an anglicisation of the French Saint Jean.
Kat says
March 31, 2009 at 8:15 PMWhen the English pronounce it, it seems to sound more like a mush-y, upper-class version of “St. John” than “Sinjin”. So I think I’d be okay with this name for an English family, but the rest of us Americans don’t have the groovy dialect to make it sound quite as “proper”.
BC says
March 31, 2009 at 11:53 AMAha! I had always wondered about that Sin-jin in Four Weddings and a Funeral! Thanks for mentioning that and clearing it up. Very interesting.
Sarah says
March 31, 2009 at 11:31 AMI once worked with a Sdjarn (s – jarn)
And there is a character in the Anne of Green Gables story whose mother insists on calling him St. Claire
Not for me – it feels so awfully upperclass!
Caitlin B says
March 31, 2009 at 2:19 AMThe names that retain the “St.” interest me so much. I’d never do it – it seems presumptuous to me. Although, I will definitely be using saint’s names.
I never heard of Sinjin, and never knew St. John would be pronounced that way. It does make a little sense, though, as I know Sinclair is from St. Clair. There’s a small grave in NYC of a boy who fell to his death in 1797. His name was St. Clair Pollock. I suppose in his time, his name was pronounced Sinclar? But I had never thought of it before! http://www.forgotten-ny.com/CEMETERIES/grant/grant.html
Emmy Jo says
March 31, 2009 at 2:17 AMI like Sinclair on a boy (mainly as a middle name), but St. John feels like a bit much.
My main association is with “Jane Eyre” — Jane’s long-lost cousins are Mary, Diana, and St. John.
I would prefer to pronounce it “Saint John” instead of “Sinjin” but I know that’s not correct. “Sinjin” just isn’t pretty.
photoquilty says
March 31, 2009 at 12:22 AMSt. John. Hm, no. No, no no. Not for me – it is so annoyingly stuffy, isn’t it? I have a second cousin whose name is Maxwell Sinclair. He was named for my grandmother Sally. Why they chose Sinclair I will never ever know, but I guess the S was enough to honor her, nevermind that the family had nothing to do with any Sinclaires anywhere, as far as I know.
Lola says
March 30, 2009 at 9:32 PMSt. John’s neat. I have a musician friend who changed his name to Sinjin. Really. he’s an odd duck though. (and a side note, Philby itself sounds awesome!)
I like the sound of St. John and would consider it myself as a middle for my Auntie May (who loved the tropical island so much she visited there yearly until she turned 100) if I had a boy. But yeah, there’s that friend who sort of turns me off using it. But wow, the imagery St. John gives me! Maybe I’ll mention it tonight over supper, which is where I’m headed now!
St. John, awesome!