"IAN" redirects here. For the airport in Alaska with IATA code IAN, see Bob Baker Memorial Airport.
| Ian | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Meaning | God is Gracious |
| Origin | Hebrew (via Scottish Gaelic) |
| Related names | John |
| Wikipedia articles | All pages beginning with "Ian" |
 |
Look up Ian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
"Ian" or "Iain" ([ˈɪʲən], anglicized pronunciation [ˈiːʲən]) is the Scottish Gaelic version of the name John. It is a very common name in much of the English-speaking world. In the United Kingdom, Ian was the 19th most common male name, taking account of the whole population (over 300,000 Ians in total).[citation needed] The name has now fallen out of the top 100 male baby names in the UK, while remaining roughly constant in popularity in the USA.
| Popularity of the name 'Ian' in the USA. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rank | ||||
| 2007 | 74 | ||||
| 2006 | 81 | ||||
| 2005 | 68 | ||||
| 2004 | 69 | ||||
| 2003 | 65 | ||||
| 2002 | 67 | ||||
| 2001 | 70 | ||||
| 2000 | 73 | ||||
| 1999 | 72 | ||||
| 1998 | 73 | ||||
| 1997 | 60 | ||||
| Note: Rank 1 is the most popular, rank 2 is the next most popular, and so forth. |
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In Scottish Gaelic, this is the common form of the name "John", and is often spelt with two "i"s. In the Bible, "Eoin" is used. Other Gaelic forms of "John" include "Seonaidh" ("Johnny" from Lowland Scots), "Seon" (from English), "Seathan", and "Seán" and "Eoin" (from Irish). In Greek 'Yanis' or 'Ianis' or 'Ioannis' is a particularly common name. Its Welsh counterpart is Ioan.
Many Armenian surnames end in -ian (such as Kardashian), as "ian" (or "yan") means "son of" in Armenian.
Contents |
Notable Ians
As a first name (alphabetical by family name)
- Ian Anderson - Head of rock band Jethro Tull
- Ian Astbury - Singer of rock band The Cult
- Ian Bairnson - Guitar player of The Alan Parsons Project and Pilot
- Ian Baker-Finch - Golfer and 1991 British Open winner
- Ian Bannen - British actor
- Ian Willoughby Bazalgette - Recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Sir Ian Blair - Former Head of the Metropolitan Police Service
- Sir Ian Botham - cricketer
- Ian Brady - Moors murderer
- Ian Broudie - Singer in The Lightning Seeds, and music producer
- Ian Brown - Singer/lyricist in The Stone Roses
- Ian Harold Brown - The inventor of the bug sponge
- Ian Callum - Design director for Jaguar
- Ian Carmichael - OBE, actor
- Ian Cashmore - Broadcaster/presenter and paranormal investigator
- Ian Chappell - Cricketer
- Ian Clark - Professor of Earth Sciences
- Ian Clyde - Boxer
- Ian Collier - Singer and actor
- Ian Cooper - Footballer
- Ian James Corlett - Cartoon writer and voice actor
- Ian Crocker - Swimmer
- Ian Curtis - Singer and lyricist in Joy Division
- Ian Davis - Writer
- Ian Dury - Singer and songwriter
- Ian Eagle - American sports announcer
- Ian Ferguson (disambiguation)
- Ian Flanagan - Tennis player
- Ian Fleming - Novelist. Creator of James Bond
- Ian Frazier - Writer and humorist
- Ian Gibson (disambiguation)
- Ian Gillan - Lead singer of the hard rock band Deep Purple.
- Ian Gold - Former American football player
- Ian Gomm - British guitarist and singer
- Ian Grist - British politician.
- Ian Hart - Actor
- Ian Hecox - From youtube's "Smosh"
- Ian Henderson (Britain) - Former head of secret police in Bahrain, accused of torture
- Ian Henderson (ABC) - Australian news presenter
- Ian Henderson (football) - Current Norwich City F.C. player in the FA Premier League
- Ian Henderson (rugby league) - Scottish rugby hooker who plays in Australia
- Ian Hicks - Chicago DJ and electronic musician
- Ian Hislop - Satirist and editor of Private Eye
- Ian Holm - Actor
- Ian Hornak - Painter
- Ian Hunter - Singer of Mott the Hoople
- Ian Huntley - Murderer
- Ian Jobling - A race realist
- Ian Kennedy - Major League Baseball pitcher
- Ian Kershaw - Historian
- Ian Kinsler - Major League Baseball second baseman for the Texas Rangers
- Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister - Singer/Bass player in Motörhead
- Ian Krankie - Entertainer
- Ian Laperrière - Hockey player
- Ian Lavender - Actor
- Ian Oswald Liddell - Recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Ian Lawrence - Lawyer
- Ian Livingstone - Author
- Ian Lorimer - Television director
- Ian Lucas - Politician
- Ian MacArthur - Politician
- Ian MacKaye - Musician
- Ian Mahinmi - Basketball player
- Ian Martin - Human rights activist
- Ian Matthews - Member of Fairport Convention and notable solo musician. Has changed his name to Iain Matthews.
- Ian Maxtone-Graham - Television writer and producer
- Ian McCaskill - Weatherman
- Ian McConville - webcomic artist of Mac Hall and Three Panel Soul
- Ian McCulloch - Actor
- Ian McCulloch - Singer in the band Echo & the Bunnymen
- Ian McCulloch - Snooker player
- Ian McDiarmid - Actor
- Ian McDonald - British musician, Best known for being a member of both King Crimson and Foreigner.
- Ian McEwan - Novelist
- Ian John McKay - Recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Sir Ian McKellen - Actor
- Ian McMillan - Poet
- Ian McMillan - Scottish footballer
- Ian McShane - Actor
- Ian Messiter - Creator of Just a Minute
- Ian Moran - Hockey player
- Ian Morris - Irish professional footballer
- Ian Morrison - Australian journalist and war correspondent for The Times
- Ian Mosley - Drummer for Marillion
- Ian Murdock - Computer professional. Creator of the Debian project
- Ian Paice - Drummer of Deep Purple
- Ian Paisley - Protestant politician
- Ian Pooley - German DJ
- Ian Rankin - Scottish novelist
- Ian Reed - Australian discus thrower
- Ian Reid (disambiguation)
- Ian Richards - British race walker
- Ian Richardson - Scottish actor
- Ian Rush - Welsh international footballer
- Ian Smith (disambiguation)
- Ian Smith - ex Rhodesian Prime Minister
- Ian Snell - Major League Baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates
- Ian Somerhalder - Actor
- Ian Stanley - British musician
- Ian Stewart (disambiguation)
- Ian Stone - Comedian
- Ian Stuart Donaldson - Vocalist and frontman of controversial British band Skrewdriver
- Ian Svenonius - American musician
- Ian Thornley - Canadian musician
- Ian Thorpe - Australian swimmer
- Ian Thomson - Cricketer
- Ian Van Dahl - Belgian artist
- Ian Waltz - American discus thrower
- Ian Watkins (born 1977), lead singer of the alternative metal band Lostprophets
- Ian Watkins (born 1976), British pop singer and actor, former member of Steps
- Ian Weatherhead - English watercolor artist
- Ian Wilmut - English embryologist, best known for cloning Dolly the sheep
- Ian Wilson (disambiguation)
- Ian Woosnam - Welsh golfer
- Ian Wright - Footballer
- Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa - Birth name of musician, Dweezil Zappa
- Ian Ziering - Actor
As a middle name
- Michael Ian Black - He is often credited by his full name, American comedian
- Thomas Ian Nicholas - actor
As a family name
- Janis Ian - singer and songwriter
- Scott Ian - stage name of Scott Ian Rosenfeld, guitarist with the metal band Anthrax
Notable Iains
- Iain Balshaw - MBE, English rugby player
- Iain Banks - Scottish writer
- Iain Black - British Columbia politician
- Iain Dowie - Northern Irish football manager
- Iain Durrant - Scottish footballer
- Iain Evans - South African field hockey player
- Iain Gray - Leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament
- Iain Harnden - Zimbabwean hurdler
- Iain Lee - British comedian, TV presenter and radio presenter
- Iain Macleod - British politician
- Iain Paxton - Scottish rugby player
- Iain Smith - Scottish politician
- Iain Duncan Smith - Leader of the Conservative Party, 2001-2003
- Iain Softley - film director
- Iain Sydie - Canadian badminton player
- The Very Revd Iain Torrance - President of Princeton Theological Seminary and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Fictional Ians
- Ian Beale - from the TV soap opera EastEnders.
- Ian Chesterton - from the TV series Doctor Who.
- Ian Craig - from the radio soap opera The Archers.
- Ian Edgerton - FBI agent and sniper from the show Numb3rs.
- Ian Gallagher - one of the main characters in the television drama, Shameless.
- Ian Howe - an antagonist in National Treasure.
- Ian Kabra- antagonist of The 39 Clues book series.
- Ian Kelley - from the TV series Being Ian.
- Ian Lewis and Ian Ketterman (together with dozens of other Ians) - characters created by Lee and Herring. The duo used 'Ian' as their de facto comedy name, in such sketches as the Ian News.
- Ian - from Leprechaun 2.
- Ian Malcolm - from Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park.
- Ian (MÄR) - a recurring character in the manga and anime series MÄR.
- Ian Maxtone-Graham - from the TV series Suddenly Susan.
- Professor Ian McClaine - adoptive father of Joe 90.
- Ian McKenzie - the liberal attorney from the novel and the film A Dry White Season
- Ian McKinley - from the movie Final Destination 3
- Ian Miller - from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
- Ian O'Shea - from Stephenie Meyer's novel, The Host.
- Ian Randall - from the 'Dichotic' episode of Smallville, a character who had the ability to duplicate himself.
- Ian Raymond - Laura's boyfriend in the novel and film, High Fidelity.
- Ian Schulenburg - Unseen husband of Harriet Schulenburg in Green Wing.
- Ian Rider - From the Alex Rider books
- Ian Scuffling - Tyrone Slothrup's adopted name after he goes into hiding in Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow.
- Ian - from Shane Jiraiya Cummings' short story, "Ian". Every male character who the protagonist meets is called Ian.
- Ian - from Sarah Kane's play, Blasted.
- Ian - from 2007 film Alvin and the Chipmunks.
See also
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