Els is the woman. Jan is the man.
Jan, pronounced “Yahn” in Dutch, is the Dutch name for John.
It’s the inspiration for the word “Yankees.” New York was settled in the 1600s by the Dutch, many of whom did dairy farming and made cheese. The English settlers used the name “John Cheese” for the Dutch everyman (ike John Doe), which was pronounced “yahn kees” in Dutch.
ike = like /typo