John Henry
One's signature.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Please put your John Henry on this document.”
“I need your John Henry on this delivery form right now.”
“The contract is ready for you to sign, so just add your John Henry at the bottom.”
“The bank teller asked me to provide my John Henry on the back of the check before she could give me the cash.”
“Once you put your John Henry on the gym membership application, you can start using the pool and the weight room today.”
“After reviewing the final terms of the agreement, he took the pen and placed his John Henry on the dotted line to formalize the deal.”
disputed origin
A popular but unproven theory suggests the term is a Western United States cowboy variation of John Hancock. Hancock was the first individual to sign the United States Declaration of Independence, and his name eventually became a standard synonym for a signature.
This particular usage is believed to date from the late 1700s or early 1800s. The timeline is of some importance, as it predates the emergence of the American folklore hero John Henry by several decades, the latter not appearing until the 1870s.
Last updated August 10, 2026