Iancu

Iancu is a Romanian masculine name that developed as a diminutive form of Ioan, the Romanian equivalent of John, itself derived from the Hebrew Yohanan, meaning God is gracious. It was widely used in medieval Romanian-speaking lands and is associated with the celebrated 15th-century military leader Iancu de Hunedoara, known in Western sources as John Hunyadi, who defended the region against Ottoman expansion. The name belongs to a broad family of John-derived forms across Europe, including Ivan, Jean, Juan, and Jan.