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Ian

Name list

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
14 min read
Source updated September 16, 2026

Ian is a male name of English, Scottish Gaelic and Hebrew origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name יוֹחָנָן (Yohanan, Yôḥānān) and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename Iain. This name is a popular name in Scotland, where it originated, as well as in other English-speaking countries.

The name has fallen out of the top 100 male baby names in the United Kingdom, having peaked in popularity as one of the top 10 names throughout the 1960s. In 1900, Ian ranked as the 180th most popular male baby name in England and Wales. As of 2019, the name has been in the top 100 in the United States every year since 1982, peaking at 65 in 2003.

Other Gaelic forms of the name "John" include "Seonaidh" ("Johnny" from Lowland Scots), "Seon" (from English), "Seathan", and "Seán" and "Eoin" (from Irish). The Welsh equivalent is Ioan, the Cornish counterpart is Yowan and the Breton equivalent is Yann.

In Korea, Ian is pronounced as 이안(I-an), and in Japan, Ian is pronounced as 偉杏, 伊庵, 一晏, etc.

01Notable people named Ian

Given name

Surname

  • Gordon Ian (1930-2006), English racing cyclist
  • Janis Ian (born 1951), American singer-songwriter
  • Scott Ian (born 1963), American guitarist, stage name of Scott Ian Rosenfeld

02Notable people named Iain

03Fictional characters

Watch videos about IanExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ian”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

Ian (disambiguation)

Ian is a common given name of Scottish Gaelic origin. It is a version of the name John.

IANS (disambiguation)

IANS may refer to:

Eoin

Eóin is a masculine Irish-language given name. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent is Eòin (pronounced [jɔːɲ]) and both are closely related to the Welsh Ioan.