List of Famous people named John

John Punch was an enslaved African who lived in the colony of Virginia. Thought to have been an indentured servant, Punch attempted to escape to Maryland and was sentenced in July 1640 by the Virginia Governor's Council to serve as a slave for the remainder of his life. Two European men who ran away with him received a lighter sentence of extended indentured servitude. For this reason, some historians consider John Punch the "first official slave in the English colonies," and his case as the "first legal sanctioning of lifelong slavery in the Chesapeake." Some historians also consider this to be one of the first legal distinctions between Europeans and Africans made in the colony, and a key milestone in the development of the institution of slavery in the United States.

John Michael Flint is a British banking businessman, who was chief executive (CEO) of HSBC Group from February 2018, having succeeded Stuart Gulliver. After serving for about 18 months, Flint announced on 5 August 2019 that he would be stepping down from the position, after a mutual agreement with the board.

John I, also called John of Aviz, was King of Portugal from 1385 until his death in 1433. He is recognized chiefly for his role in Portugal's victory in a succession war with Castile, preserving his country's independence and establishing the Aviz dynasty on the Portuguese throne. His long reign of 48 years, the most extensive of all Portuguese monarchs, saw the beginning of Portugal's overseas expansion. John's well-remembered reign in his country earned him the epithet of Fond Memory ; he was also referred to as "the Good", sometimes "the Great", and more rarely, especially in Spain, as "the Bastard" (Bastardo).

John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed.

John Knoll is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer (CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop, he has also worked as visual effects supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special editions of the original trilogy. He also served as ILM's visual effects supervisor for Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact, as well as the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Along with Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall, Knoll and the trio's work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest earned them the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

John Willis, nicknamed Bac Guai John in Cantonese, or White Devil John, is an American mobster linked with the Chinese Mafia in Boston and New York. Willis claims to have been the only white person within Chinese organized crime, an assertion backed by FBI agent Scott O'Donnell, who stated he has "never seen" a case like that of Willis.

John L. Flannery is an American business executive. He succeeded Jeff Immelt as the eleventh CEO and tenth Chairman of General Electric, serving as CEO from August 2017 until October 1, 2018, when he was fired "effective immediately". Prior to ascending to the CEO role, Flannery held leadership roles inside GE for nearly 30 years, heading GE Healthcare, GE India and other business units throughout his career.

John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, drone, classical, avant-garde and electronic music.

John James Audubon was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoral record of all the bird species of North America. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon is also known for having identified 25 new species. He is the namesake of the National Audubon Society and his name adorns a large number of towns, neighborhoods, and streets in every part of the United States. Dozens of scientific names first published by Audubon are currently in use by the scientific community.

John Joseph Horgan is a Canadian politician who has served as the 36th and current premier of British Columbia since 2017. He has been leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party since 2014 and the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the constituency of Langford-Juan de Fuca and its predecessors since 2005.