Ian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Iain)
For other uses, see Ian (disambiguation).
| Ian | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Origin | |
| Word/Name | Hebrew (via Scottish Gaelic) |
| Meaning | God is gracious |
| Other names | |
| Related names | John |
 |
Look up Ian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
"Ian", "Iain", or "Eian" or "Eion"(Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [ˈɪʲən], English: /ˈiː.ən/) is the Scottish Gaelic name corresponding to English John. It is a very common name in much of the English-speaking world. In the United Kingdom, Ian was[when?] 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, having peaked in popularity as one of the top 10 names throughout the 1960s,[1] 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. Name data are from Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States. Source: Social Security Administration. See http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames |
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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, the French equivalent is Yann, and Slavic is Ivan.
Many Armenian surnames end in -ian (such as Kardashian), as "ian" (or "yan") means "son of" in Armenian.
Contents |
[edit] Notable Ians
[edit] As a first name (alphabetical by family name)
- 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
- Sir Ian Blair – former Head of the Metropolitan Police Service
- 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 Harold Brown – inventor of the bug sponge
- 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 – writer
- 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 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 – Australian journalist and war correspondent for The Times
- 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 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 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 (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
[edit] As a middle name
- Michael Ian Black – (often credited by his full name), American comedian
- Thomas Ian Nicholas – Actor and singer
[edit] As a surname
- Janis Ian – singer and songwriter
- Scott Ian – stage name of Scott Ian Rosenfeld, guitarist with the metal band Anthrax
[edit] Notable Iains
- Iain Archer – Northern Irish Singer-songwriter musician
- 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 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
[edit] Fictional Ians
- 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 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 – from Shane Jiraiya Cummings' short story, "Ian". Every male character who the protagonist meets is called Ian
- Ian – from Sarah Kane's play, Blasted
