Hehe, personally, I would choose another form if I wanted to honor a
John or, if that was a dealbreaker for some reason, keep
Johna to the middle slot. I imagine a lot of people don’t even realize
Jane, etc. are variants of
John. Maybe it’s because of the bearer I’ve met, but I don’t feel it’s as horrid as you find it. However, a middle name awesome enough to make me truly like it has eluded me. For me, the “we wanted a son” vibe comes into play when parents *don’t* choose a feminine form and instead give their daughter a masculine name such as,
Elliott or
Milo.