How to say it
JO · nah
ˈdʒoʊ.nə
Masculine
Jonah
Dove
What it means
Hebrew Yonah, 'dove.' The biblical prophet swallowed by a great fish on his way to Nineveh; his short book is one of the Hebrew Bible's strangest and most-anthologized.
Jonah is the English form of the Hebrew Yonah ('dove'). The Book of Jonah is one of the shortest in the Old Testament: God tells Jonah to preach to Nineveh, Jonah flees in the opposite direction, the storm comes, he's swallowed by a great fish, prays from its belly, gets vomited onto dry land, finally preaches to Nineveh, and then sulks when God spares the city. The story is read on Yom Kippur as a meditation on mercy. As an English given name Jonah was rare until the 1990s biblical-name revival; it entered the US top 200 in 2001. Common short: Jo or Jonny.
How to spell Jonah
The standard spelling is Jonah. Common variants include Yonah, Jonas, but Jonah is the most widely used form.
Popularity over time
peaked at #124 in 2023, currently #128 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–2025. Reviewed July 2026. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pop culture
The whale story is the universal reference; some parents lean into the rebellion-and-mercy reading, others find it a strange anchor.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Jonah (Bible) The reluctant prophet swallowed by a great fish, then sent to Nineveh
- Jonah Hill American actor and filmmaker, Superbad and Moneyball
Spelling variants
- Yonah
- Jonas
Names with the same feeling
See Jonah from another angle
By meaning
By style
Common questions
- What does the name Jonah mean?
- Hebrew Yonah, 'dove.' The biblical prophet swallowed by a great fish on his way to Nineveh; his short book is one of the Hebrew Bible's strangest and most-anthologized.
- What does Jonah mean in Hebrew?
- In Hebrew, Jonah means "Dove." Jonah is the English form of the Hebrew Yonah ('dove'). The Book of Jonah is one of the shortest in the Old Testament: God tells Jonah to preach to Nineveh, Jonah flees in the opposite direction, the storm comes, he's swallowed by a great fish, prays from its belly, gets vomited onto dry land, finally preaches to Nineveh, and then sulks when God spares the city. The story is read on Yom Kippur as a meditation on mercy. As an English given name Jonah was rare until the 1990s biblical-name revival; it entered the US top 200 in 2001. Common short: Jo or Jonny.
- How do you pronounce Jonah?
- Jonah is pronounced ˈdʒoʊ.nə. Say it as JO-nah, with the stress on the "jo" syllable.
- How do you spell Jonah?
- The standard spelling is Jonah. Common spelling variants include Yonah, Jonas.
- Is Jonah a boy or girl name?
- Jonah is traditionally a masculine name.
- How popular is the name Jonah?
- Jonah ranked #128 in the U.S. in 2025, according to Social Security Administration data.