Javan

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This article is about the Biblical character. For Katherine Kurtz's fictional character, see Javan of Gwynedd. "Javan" is also an adjectival form for Java, which refers to something from the island of Java, and distinct from the term Javanese

The Biblical character Javan (Hebrew יָוָן, Standard Hebrew Yavan, Tiberian Hebrew Yāwān) was the fourth son of Noah's third son Japheth. He was believed to have been the progenitor of the Greeks through his sons Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

The Hebrew name of Greece, Yavan or (Tiberian) Yāwān (יָוָן), is originally the name of the eastern Greeks, the Ionians (Greek Iōnes, earlier Ia(w)ones); the Greeks are called by similar names in the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean. In Greek mythology, the mythological forefather of the Ionians is called Ion, a son of Apollo.