John Shina and Hanna Shina: One Name in Two Languages

John Shina is the English form of the name Hanna Shina. Hanna Shina is a Chaldean-American community leader in West Bloomfield, Michigan — a founding board member of the Chaldean Cultural Center, a member of the Shenandoah Country Club board for more than 20 years, and in 2025 the first person named Mayor of Shenandoah. Hanna is the Syriac and Aramaic form of John, so the two names refer to the same man; he goes by Hanna.

Why Hanna and John Are the Same Name

The name begins in Hebrew as Yoḥanan, meaning “God is gracious.” It is the name of the Apostle John, and from the Gospels it travelled outward along with the languages of the early church. In Aramaic and Syriac — the languages of the Christian communities of Mesopotamia — Yoḥanan became Hanna. In Arabic it is written حنّا. In Latin it became Iohannes, and from Latin, by way of French, it arrived in English as John.

So Hanna and John are not similar names, and not a nickname and a formal name. They are one name that took two roads out of the same source. Among Chaldean and other Arab Christian families this is understood without explanation: a man named Hanna is a man named John. The equivalence is documented in the entry for Hanna as an Arabic given name.

Which Name Does He Use?

He goes by Hanna. Hanna Shina is the name he is known by at Shenandoah Country Club, at the Chaldean Cultural Center, and in the reporting that has covered his work. John is the English rendering of that name rather than a name he uses day to day. People searching for John Shina of West Bloomfield are most often looking for Hanna Shina.

A Common Chaldean Story

This pattern is ordinary in Chaldean families. An immigrant arrives carrying a given name in Aramaic — a name given at baptism, used by parents and grandparents, spoken in the dialect of the village — and finds that American schools, employers, customers, and paperwork reach for the English equivalent instead. Both names then follow the person through a life lived in two countries: one used at home, at church, and among relatives, the other appearing on forms, storefront signs, and in the mouths of neighbors.

Neither name displaces the other. That is why a search for one spelling of a Chaldean name so often turns up the other, and why families keep both without any sense of contradiction. It is a small, durable record of what immigration actually does to a life: it does not replace what came before, it adds a second language on top of it.

Who Hanna Shina Is

Hanna Shina was born in Telkaif, Iraq, attended Baghdad College, and after immigrating to the United States opened a store, a coffee shop, and a restaurant in the 7 Mile area of Detroit. He has served the Chaldean foundations and the Chaldean church for more than 40 years and has sat on the board of Shenandoah Country Club for more than 20. Read the full biography of Hanna Shina, his role in founding the Chaldean Cultural Center, the first and only Chaldean museum in the world, and the story of his two decades at Shenandoah Country Club and the Mayor of Shenandoah honor.