masc. proper name, from Late Latin Jonas, from Greek Ionas, from Hebrew yonah "dove, pigeon" (compare Jonah).

masc. proper name, biblical prophet and subject of the Book of Jonah, from Hebrew Yonah, literally "dove, pigeon." In nautical use (and extended) "person on shipboard regarded as the cause of bad luck" (Jonah 1.v-xvi).