Hans is a male given name in Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Faroese, German, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish-speaking populations. It was originally short for Johannes (Ioannes), but is now also recognized as a name in its own right for official purposes. The earliest documented usage was in 1356 in Sweden, 1360 in Norway, and the 14th century in Denmark.
The name Hansel (German: Hänsel, IPA: [ˈhɛnzl̩] ) is a diminutive, meaning 'little Hans'. Another diminutive with the same meaning is Hänschen (IPA: [ˈhɛnsçn̩] ), found in the German proverb was Hänschen nicht lernt, lernt Hans nimmermehr; which translates roughly as 'what Hansel doesn't learn, Hans will never learn'.
Separately derived, Hans is also a male given name meaning 'swan' in Sanskrit families of the Indian subcontinent.
Contents
Alternative forms
Other variants include: Han, Hawns, Hanns, Hannes, Hanse, Hansi (also female), Hansie, Hansele, Hansal, Hensal, Hanserl, Hännschen, Hennes, Hännes, Hänneschen, Henning, Henner, Honsa, Johan, Johann, Jan, Jannes, Jo, Joha, Hanselmann, Hansje.
Pet, diminutive, alternative and other language forms are:
Hannes (Dutch, German, Swedish, Icelandic, Finnish)
Honza (Czech)
Hovhannes (Armenian: Հովհաննես (Hovhannes) (reformed); Յովհաննէս (Yovhannēs) (classical))
Jack (English)
Johnny/Johnnie (English)
John (English)
יוֹחָנָן yokhanán, Yohanan or יְהוֹחָנָן yehokhanán, Yehohanan (Hebrew)
Yohanna (Arabic: يوحنا) the Arabic language derivative, used among Arabic-speaking Christians
Yahya (Arabic: يحيى), used among Arab and non-Arab Muslims
Eoin (Irish-language derivation of Seán; in Irish and Scottish Gaelic refers to the Apostle)
Evan, Ifan (Welsh a pre-Christian Celtic subsequently equated to John)
Jevan (variation of Evan)
Giovanni, Gianni (Italian)
Ġwanni, Ġwann, Ġanni (Maltese)
Jan (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Slovak, German)
People named Hans
Arts and entertainment
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), Danish author
Hans Henning Atrott (1944–2018), German author and theorist
Hans Einer (1856–1927), Estonian language teacher, author of schoolbooks and a cultural figure
Hans Fallada (1893–1947), German writer
Hans Herbjørnsrud (1938–2023), Norwegian author
Hans Holzer (1920–2009), Austrian-American author and parapsychologist
Hans Henny Jahnn (1894–1959), German playwright and novelist
Hans Lorbeer (1901–1973), German politician and writer
Hans Erich Nossack (1901–1977), German writer
Hans Guido von Bülow (1830–1894), German pianist and conductor
Hans Gruber (conductor) (1925–2001), Canadian conductor
Hans Raj Hans (born 1962), Indian singer
Hans Hartz (1943–2002), German singer
Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012), German composer
Hans Poulsen (1945–2023), Australian songwriter/musician
Hans Söllner (born 1955), German singer-songwriter
Hans Zender (1936–2019), German composer and conductor
Medicine
Hans Asperger (1906–1980), Austrian pediatrician for whom Asperger syndrome is named
Hans Berger (1873–1941), German neurologist
Hans Sauer (1857–1939), South African general practitioner, lawyer, and businessman
Military and paramilitary
Hans Aumeier (1906–1948), German Nazi SS deputy commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp executed for war crimes
Hans Berndtson (born 1945), Swedish Army lieutenant general
Hans Bothmann (1911–1946), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
Hans Dreyer (1930/31–2015), South African Police major general and head of Koevoet
Hans Hagnell (1919–2006), Swedish politician
Hans Helwig (1881–1952), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
Hans Horrevoets (1974–2006), Dutch sea sailor
Hans Hüttig (1894–1980), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
Hans Kalm (1889–1981), Estonian-born military officer
Hans Krebs (SS general) (1888–1947), Moravian-born Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes
Hans Krebs (Wehrmacht general) (1898–1945), last German Army chief of staff during World War II
Hans Loritz (1895–1946), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
Hans von Luck (1911–1997), German officer
Hans Möser (1906–1948), German Nazi SS concentration camp officer executed for war crimes
Hans Osara (c. 1560–1601), Finnish lieutenant in the Cudgel War
Politics
Hans Apel (1932–2011), German politician
Hans Barchue (died 2023), Liberian politician
Hans Bentzien (1927–2015), East German writer and politician
Hans Blix (born 1928), Swedish diplomat and politician
Hans, Count von Bülow (1774–1825), Prussian statesman
Hans Eichel (born 1941), German politician
Hans Ekström (born 1958), Swedish politician
Hans Ewerlöf (1929–2022), Swedish diplomat
Hans Filbinger (1913–2007), German politician
Hans Frank (1900–1946), German Nazi lawyer and governor general of Nazi-occupied Poland executed for war crimes
Hans Friderichs (1931–2025), German politician and businessman
Hans Dietrich Genscher (1927–2016), German politician
Hans Gualthérie van Weezel (born 1941), Dutch politician and diplomat
Hans Gustafsson (1923–1998), Swedish politician
Hans Hamilton (1758–1822), Anglo-Irish politician
Hans Koschnick (1929–2016), German politician
Hans Kruus (1891–1976), Estonian historian, academic and politician
Science
Hans Ankum (1930–2019), Dutch legal scholar
Hans Avé Lallemant (1938–2016), Dutch-born American geologist
Hans Bethe (1906–2005), German-American nuclear physicist, Nobel laureate
Hans Bos (born 1950), Dutch biochemist and cancer researcher
Hans Capel (1936–2023), Dutch physicist
Hans Cohen (1923–2020), Dutch microbiologist
Hans Albert Einstein (1904–1973), Swiss-American professor of hydraulic engineering, son of Albert Einstein
Hans Freeman (1929–2008), German-born Australian protein crystallographer who elucidated the structure of plastocyanin
Hans Geiger (1882–1945), German physicist, inventor of the Geiger counter
Hans Hass (1919–2013), Austrian diver, naturalist and film-maker
Hans Adolf Krebs (1900–1981), German-born, British physician and biochemist; identified citric acid cycle
Hans Küng (1928–2021), Swiss Catholic theologian and author
Hans Langmaack (born 1934), German computer scientist and mathematician
Hans Lauda (1896–1974), Austrian industrialist
Hans Lowey, Austrian-American chemist
Hans Merensky (1871–1952), South African geologist
Sports
Hans Christian Bernat (born 2000), Danish professional footballer
Hans Christensen (footballer) (1906–1992), Danish footballer
Hans Dersch (born 1967), American breaststroke swimmer
Hans Eller (1910–1943), German rower
Hans Erkens (born 1952), Dutch footballer
Harold Goldsmith, born Hans Goldschmidt (1930–2004), American Olympic foil and épée fencer
Hans Halberstadt (1885–1966), German-born American Olympic fencer
Hans Holmqvist (born 1960), Swedish footballer
Hans Knecht (1913–1996), Swiss road racing cyclist
Hans Krankl (born 1953), Austrian football player and trainer
Hans Lutz (born 1949), German track and road cyclist
Hans Maier (water polo player) (1916–2018), Dutch Olympic water polo player
Hans Maier (rower) (1909–1943), German Olympic rower
Hans Nüsslein (1910–1991), German tennis player
Hans Parrel (born 1944), Dutch water polo player
Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (born 1988), Chilean tennis player
Hans Sarpei (born 1976), Ghanaian soccer player
Other fields
Hans or John, King of Denmark, Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union
Hans Werner Aufrecht (born 1936), German automotive engineer, one of the founders of AMG Engine Production and Development
Hans Benno Bernoulli (1876–1959), Swiss architect
Hans Besig (1908–1965), German Classical archaeologist and teacher
Hans Biebow (1902–1947), German chief of Nazi administration of the Łódź Ghetto, executed for war crimes
Hans Claessen (1563–1624), Dutch founder of the New Netherland Company
Hans von Dohnanyi (1902–1945), German jurist and resistance fighter
Hans Otto Hoheisen (1905–2003), South African conservationist and philanthropist
Hans Mayer (1907–2001), German literary scholar
Hannes Meyer (or Hans Emil Meyer, 1889–1954), Swiss architect and second director of the Bauhaus
Hans Niemann (born 2003), American chess player
Hans Raastad (born 1943), Norwegian socialist
Hans Jürgen Rösler (1920–2009), German mineralogy professor
Hans Scholl (1918–1943), German resistance fighter
Hans Wesemann (1895–1971), German journalist and Gestapo agent
Fictional characters
Characters named Hans in Grimms' Fairy Tales:
"Blockhead Hans"
"Clever Hans"
"Hans in Luck"
"Hans My Hedgehog"
"Iron Hans"
"Strong Hans"
Hans Brinker, Dutch ice skater in an 1865 novel by American author Mary Mapes Dodge
Captain Hans Geering, in the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
Hans Gruber, antagonist from Die Hard
Hans Landa, in the war film Inglourious Basterds
Hans Moleman, in the TV series The Simpsons
Hans Zarkov, a comrade of Flash Gordon in Flash Gordon, a comic strip and various adaptation in media
Hans, Disney character and the main antagonist of Frozen
Hans and Franz, recurring sketch characters on Saturday Night Live
