Javan was a son of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, and Genesis 10 names four sons of his own: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. These names stand for families spreading out over the earth after the flood. Much later, Ezekiel speaks of Javan as a trading people who came and went in the markets of Tyre, bringing bright iron, cassia and calamus. So the name begins as a man and becomes a distant people known for commerce. A good place to begin is the family list in Genesis 10.
4 verses
The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
(1.) The fourth “son” of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), whose descendants settled in Greece, i.e., Ionia, which bears the name of Javan in Hebrew. Alexander the Great is called the “king of Javan” (rendered “Grecia,” Dan. 8:21; 10:20; comp. 11:2; Zech. 9:13). This word was universally used by the nations of the East as the generic name of the Greek race.
(2.) A town or district of Arabia Felix, from which the Syrians obtained iron, cassia, and calamus (Ezek. 27:19).
William Smith, 1884
(clay).
(1.) A son of Japheth. (Genesis 10:2,4) Javan was regarded as the representative of the Greek race. The name was probably introduced into Asia by the Phoenicians, to whom the Ionians were naturally better known than any other of the Hellenic races, on account of their commercial activity and the high prosperity of their towns on the western coast of Asia Minor.
(2.) A town in the souther part of Arabia (Yemen), whither the Phoenicians traded. (Ezekiel 27:19)