Well, what is in a name? More specifically, what's in the name "Hans"? I've yet to read the entirety of my giant Grimms' Fairy Tale book, but from what I've read so far, I've come across at least eight different fellows named "Hans," and about three or four women whose names are a variant on the well-known "Gretel."
Couple of different thoughts about this:
1-- YAY! Lots of Hanses! :D (. . . . I absolutely love that name.)
2-- Hans = Jack. Plenty of stories about dudes named Jack.
3-- The storytellers had lame imaginations. They could never think of anything but Hans/John/Jean. (Obviously, I don't believe this one. What kind of an English major would I be if I did?)
4-- Giving the hero such a commonplace name turns him into an Everyman figure, makes him more relatable, more real. It shows the audience that they, too, can be great like this Hans figure in the story-- or foolish, as is the case in "Clever Hans" and "Hans in Luck."
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