Ian - Meaning of Ian

What does Ian mean?

Pronounce
Ian

[ 2 syll. ian, ia-n ] The baby boy name Ian is pronounced in English as IY-ahN †. Ian's language of origin is Hebrew, and it is predominantly used in the English, Scottish, and Gaelic languages. This first emerged as an independent given name in 19th-century Scotland. It is now widely used among English speakers without much association with its Scottish roots and its source form John.

Ian is a variation (English, Gaelic, and Scottish) of John (English and Hebrew).

Ian has 15 variations that are used in English and foreign languages. Variations used in English include Iaen, Iaene, Iahn, Iaine, Iane, Iann (used in Scottish too), Iannel, Iayn, Iayne, Iin, Ion, and Ionn. The variant spelling Ean (used in Gaelic, and Manx too) is another English form. Iain (Scottish) is a variation of Ian that is in foreign languages. Another foreign form is the variant spelling Iaian (Scottish).

The origin and meaning of Ian is inherited by all variant forms.

See also the related categories, english, independent, hebrew, and john.

Ian is a popular baby name for boys. The name's popularity jumped from the 1930s up to the 2000s; before that, it was of only irregular use. Its usage peaked modestly in 2005 with 0.314% of baby boys being given the name Ian. Its ranking then was #68. The baby name has since experienced a drop in popularity. In 2018, it ranked at #79 with a usage of 0.242%. Among the group of boy names directly linked to Ian, John was the most popular. It was 95% more popular than Ian in 2018.

Baby names that sound like Ian include Iagan, Igon, Igun, Ihsan, Ihsann, Ihsen, Ihson, Ihsun, Ihsyn, Isam, Isan, Ishaan, Isham, Ishan, Ishem, Ishim, Ishom, Ishum, Ishym, and Isom.

† Pronunciation for Ian: IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; AH as in "mud (M.AH.D)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"

Details of famous persons named Ian:
Actor Ian Holm, born 12 September 1931, Goodmayes, England.
Actor Ian McKellen, born 25 May 1939, Burnley, England.
Author Ian Fleming, born 28 May 1908 - 12 August 1964, London, England.
Politician Ian Paisley, born 6 April 1926, Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland.
Rock Bandmember Ian MacKaye, born 1987.
Rock Musician Ian Anderson, born 10 August 1947, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland.