Hans is the German and Scandinavian short form of Johannes, the Hebrew Yochanan, and means "God is gracious". It was the single most common German boys' name for centuries and belongs to the storyteller Hans Christian Andersen and the film composer Hans Zimmer. In the United States Hans stood at number 1078 in 2000 and has held between number 1250 and 1560 ever since, ranking number 1325 in 2025.