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"Ian", "Iain" (/ˈiː.ən/; Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [ˈɪʲən]) is a name of Gaelic origin, corresponding to English John. It is a very common name in much of the English-speaking world and especially in the United Kingdom, where it originated. Ian was the 19th most common male name, taking account of the whole British 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, having peaked in popularity as one of the top 10 names throughout the 1960s,^[1] while remaining roughly constant in popularity in the USA.

The original form of the name ‘Eóin’ originated in the Irish language. Ian is an anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic version of the name ‘Iain’.

Other Gaelic forms of "John" include "Seonaidh" ("Johnny" from Lowland Scots), "Seon" (from English), "Seathan", and "Seán" and "Eoin" (from Irish). In Greek 'Yannis'/Γιάννης' or 'Ioannis/Ιωάννης' is a particularly common name. Its Welsh counterpart is Ioan, the Breton equivalent is Yann, and Slavic is Ivan.

Notable Ians [edit]

As a first name (alphabetical by family name) [edit]

• Ian Anderson – lead of rock band Jethro Tull
• Ian Astbury – singer of rock band The Cult
• Ian Bairnson – guitarist 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
• Ian Bell – English cricketer
• Sir Ian Blair – former Head of the Metropolitan Police Service
• Ian Black (disambiguation)
• Sir Ian Botham – cricketer
• Ian Bolton – English footballer
• Ian Brady – Moors murderer
• Ian Bremmer – political scientist, author, entrepreneur
• Ian Broudie – singer in The Lightning Seeds, and music producer
• Ian Brown – singer and lyricist in The Stone Roses
• Ian Callum – Design director for Jaguar
• Ian Carmichael – OBE, actor
• Ian Cashmore – broadcaster/presenter and paranormal investigator
• Ian Chappell – Former Australian cricketer
• Ian Charleson – Scottish/British actor
• Ian Clark (disambiguation)
• Ian Clyde – boxer
• Ian Collier – singer and actor
• Ian Cooper (disambiguation)
• Ian James Corlett – cartoon writer and voice actor
• Ian Crocker – swimmer
• Ian Curtis – singer and lyricist in Joy Division
• Ian Davis (disambiguation)
• Ian Desmond - Major League Baseball shortstop
• Ian Dury – singer and songwriter
• Ian Eagle – American sports announcer
• Ian Edmond – swimmer
• Ian Ferguson (disambiguation)
• Ian Flanagan – tennis player
• Ian Fleming – Novelist, creator of James Bond
• Ian Froman - South African-born Israeli tennis player and tennis patron
• Ian Frazier – writer and humorist
• Ian Gibson (disambiguation)
• Ian Gillan – lead singer of hard rock band Deep Purple
• Ian Gold – former American football player
• Ian Gomm – British guitarist and singer
• Ian Grist – British politician
• Ian Hamilton (disambiguation)
• Ian Harding – actor
• Ian Hart – actor
• Ian Healy – Former Australian Wicket-Keeper
• Ian Hecox – comedian with 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 (disambiguation)
• Ian Hill – Bassist for metal band Judas Priest
• Ian Hislop – Satirist and editor of Private Eye
• Ian Holm (born 1931) – British actor
• Ian Hornak – painter
• Ian Hunter – singer of Mott the Hoople
• Ian Huntley – double murderer
• Ian James – Olympic athlete
• Ian Joyce - American soccer player
• Ian Kennedy – Major League Baseball pitcher
• Ian Kershaw – historian
• Ian Kinsler – Major League Baseball all star second baseman (Texas Rangers)
• Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister – singer/bass player in Motörhead
• Ian Krankie – entertainer
• Ian Lambert- educator
• Ian Laperrière – hockey player
• Ian Lavender – actor
• Ian Law – Australian footballer
• Ian Oswald Liddell – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• 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, reverted in 1989 to Iain Matthews
• Ian Matthews – drummer for Kasabian
• Ian Maxtone-Graham – television writer and producer
• Ian McCaskill – weather forecaster
• 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
• 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 (disambiguation)
• Ian Morton - English cricketer
• Ian Mosley – drummer for Marillion
• Ian Murdock – computer professional, creator of the Debian project
• Ian O'Brien – swimmer
• Ian Paice – drummer of Deep Purple
• Ian Paisley – Protestant politician
• Ian Patterson - English footballer
• Ian Peck - English cricketer
• Ian Pooley – German DJ
• Ian Poulter – English professional golfer
• Ian Punnett - American radio broadcaster and priest
• Ian Rankin – Scottish novelist
• Ian Reed – Australian discus thrower
• Ian Reid (disambiguation)
• Ian Richards – British race walker
• Ian Richardson – Scottish actor
• Ian Robinson (disambiguation)
• Ian Ross (disambiguation)
• Ian Rush – Welsh international footballer
• Ian Sanders - cricketer for Edinburgh, Scotland
• Ian Scheckter – former South African F1 driver. He is brother of Jody Scheckter and uncle of Tomas Scheckter.
• Ian Scott (disambiguation)
• Ian Smith (disambiguation)
• Ian Smith – ex Rhodesian Prime Minister
• Ian Snell – Major League Baseball pitcher
• 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 (disambiguation)
• Ian "Sam" Totman – British guitarist
• 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 West (disambiguation)
• Ian Wilmut – English embryologist, best known for cloning Dolly the sheep
• Ian Wilson (disambiguation)
• Ian Wood (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 [edit]

• Michael Ian Black – (often credited by his full name), American comedian
• Thomas Ian Nicholas – Actor and singer

As a surname [edit]

• Janis Ian – singer and songwriter
• Scott Ian – stage name of Scott Ian Rosenfeld, guitarist with the metal band Anthrax

Notable Iains [edit]

• Iain Archer – Northern Irish Singer-songwriter musician
• Iain Balshaw – MBE, English rugby player
• Iain Banks – Scottish writer
• Iain Black – British Columbia politician
• Iain De Caestecker - Scottish actor
• 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 Macmillan – Scottish photographer, noted for his image of the Beatles walking across Abbey Road
• Iain Paxton – Scottish rugby player
• Iain Smith – Scottish politician
• Iain Duncan Smith – Leader of the Conservative Party, 2001–2003
• Iain Softley – film director
• Iain Stirling – TV presenter and comedian
• Iain Stewart (disambiguation)
• 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 [edit]

• Ian Hawke – the main antagonist in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies
• Ian the Deer – Elliot's arch-rival in the Open Season movies
• Ian Beale – from the TV soap opera EastEnders
• Ian Chesterton – from the TV series Doctor Who
• Ian Slater - from the ABC soap opera All My Children
• 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 Hainsworth - Susan Delfino's boyfriend in 3rd season of Desperate Housewives
• 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 Murray- The Nephew of Jamie Fraser in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander novels
• 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 Thomas - Ryan Merriman's character in the TV series Pretty Little Liars.
• 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

References [edit]

1. ^ [1]

See also [edit]

• John (given name)
• Eoin
• Ioan (disambiguation)
• IANS (disambiguation)