Meaning
Usage
Pronunciation
Famous
Impression
Other
Wowie! Crazy Name lol pretty good solid 8/6.
Reminds me of the mathematician from Jurassic Park.
Looks as if it should be pronounced IE-un so I think it would cause a lot of confusion. I don’t like it.
Sounds very intelligent.
I like it, it's short and hard to misspell, but it is quite boring.
Ian Smith, Prime Minister of the white minority ruled state of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979.
Cute.
I associate it with the sound a donkey would make.
What dumb*$$ doesn't know how to pronounce Ian? It's like one of the most common names ever.
Ian Kabra, the bad 14-year old from the 39 clues, written by various authors.
I'm a 70yo American man named Ian. My mom was from the UK and of course it's popular there. When I was a kid I hated the name because it was so often mispronounced or misspelled. All thru school my friends and classmates pronounced it with just one syllable, "Inn", because I was too shy to correct them. I lived in the Midwest and it was an unusual name there. In my teen years a few British rock stars and others became known in US popular culture and I then felt a little better about it. After my teenage years, I found that many girls liked it because it was different. I didn't meet another Ian until I was 30 and since then I've met only a very few others with the name. Even today, I'd say 60-70% of the people I meet get it wrong.
I really like this name :) It's cute and has a nice ring to it.
Soooo cutee.
Ian Watkins was one of the lead singers of a band called "LostProphets". He is currently serving a 30 year prison sentence for committing several heinous crimes against children and toddlers.
Ian Gallagher from Shameless.
Cute.
I thought I liked this name until I decided to yell "Eeee-an" a few times across the room and it sounds way too whiny for me.
Nothing much to say. Too short. Looks boring. Sound also nothing interesting. There are so many better names.
I love this name!
Ian Hecox (b. November 30, 1987) is an American YouTuber and member of the YouTube group Smosh.
I came across name "Ian" when I was looking for a name change (being foreign country with rare non-English name can be challenging at different times). I agree that this name is pretty short and sweet, but I found that it can be confusing because there is another name "Ion".Ian and Ion are two very similar names.
I love this name and it helps being both my father in law's name and the name my father uses. I love that it’s a name everyone knows and yet it is uncommon where I live for children at the moment. Definitely top of husband and my list for our bump.
Ugly. And then there will be the problem of people mispronouncing the I sound one way or another. What's wrong with just using John, or any of its other better-sounding variants?
I could not come up with a name for my youngest son. My husband chose Ian because it was based on my grandfather's name which was John. I really have grown to love the uniqueness of his name.
Not bad. I kinda like the sound of it.
Ian Lightfoot, main protagonist from Disney and Pixar's 2020 animated film Onward.
Not bad, but it's quite popular where I live.
I like Ian because it is simple and pretty ageless.Unfortunately there are few characters with this name that I like plus the name is just a variant of John and it's too similar to Ivan.I rate it 7/10 that means: "it could be among my favourites but... no thanks".It is more friendly than many other names though.
It’s okay, I’m kind of mixed about it.
I'm surprised that not many people (apart from about 1 other commenter) have mentioned Ian Anderson (1947-) of Jethro Tull.
Lindo nome, masculino, jovem, incomum, original e atemporal.[trans: Beautiful name, masculine, young, unusual, original and timeless.]
My name is Ian and I'm from South Wales (It was meant to be Iain but the registrar got it wrong - LOL)
A previous comment said "My parents told me they chose that name because it couldn't be shortened" - tell my sister... she just calls me "Ee". However, conversely being a three letter word it nearly always gets lengthened - does anyone else have that experience? What is the most creative extended version you've have thrown at you? I've had Ianny, Iannypoos and Iantolinus to name a few!
I like the name - it's not unique but not common enough to make it... er... common.
Unlike many first names, Ian has never peaked into a trendy name lasting a few years and even a decade or two: think of Stephen and Andrew in the 1950's and 60's. It did, however, have a short and modest spell of popularity in the late 1940's. Not in my generation though: in all my primary and secondary schooldays, from age 5 to 18, I was the only 'Ian' in the school. So I didn't like it, being the odd one out. People used to mispronounce it, too, making it sound like 'iron'. I thought they were just ignorant.My parents told me they chose that name because it couldn't be shortened, so I was saved that common curse anyway. I like the name very much now. For reasons that other people have listed.
Ian (my name) is short and goes well with longer last and middle names. 9/10 only because people butcher it.
Eu gosto de Ian, é simples e elegante, significa "Deus é gracioso" ou "graça de Deus".[trans: I like Ian, it's simple and elegant, it means "God is graceful" or "grace of God".]
Ian é um nome lindo curto e forte.[trans: Ian is a beautiful short and strong name.]
My name be Ian, and IAIN IS WRONG. Can't you see it? It's like saying "ee- II - nn".
In 2018, 5 is the most common age for an American (U.S.) Ian who is registered male with the Social Security Administration. It is the 307th most common male first name for living U.S. citizens.
I don’t like the way this name sounds. EEEEEEE an. Really whiny. A kid in my class was named Ian and one substitute teacher butchered it in a way I didn’t know was possible: EYE-ANN. Also, peein’ Ian if, God forbid, your kid ever wets his pants at school.
It's a short and independent name. I like it :)
Ian James Thorpe, OAM is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first person to win six gold medals in one World Championship. In total, Thorpe has won eleven World Championship golds, the third-highest number of any swimmer. Thorpe was the first person to have been named Swimming World Swimmer of the Year four times, and was the Australian Swimmer of the Year from 1999 to 2003. His athletic achievements made him one of Australia's most popular athletes, and he was recognised as the Young Australian of the Year in 2000.
Ian Chen is an American actor. In 2014, he was cast as a series regular in the ABC comedy series Fresh Off the Boat. He has a younger brother and is fluent in Mandarin. He is a big fan of Minecraft, CS: GO, and other games. He also sings and plays guitar in a band. In June 2016, he starred as the main character in Eric Nam's music video "Into You". Ian was ranked #3 in Entertainment Weekly's 12 Under 12: The Best Child Actors of 2015, behind Jacob Tremblay and Marsai Martin.
We named our second son Ian after not agreeing on any names. My husband wanted a traditional Italian name, none of which felt right after our son was born. We chose a variation of my husbands nickname from his grandmother for our son's middle name, satisfying tradition (Dominic was called Nicky, turned into Nicholas for our son).
So my husband loved the name Gideon, which again did not feel right, looking at my newborn son. Exhausted and giving up the fight hours after delivering our son, I said Gideon would be called Ian. My husband wrote out the name Ian Nicholas, and we both knew that was the name for our child. He is an Ian, classic, strong and beautiful.
Problem with the name: people mispronounce it - most annoying is EE-ON, like Eon, like a term stating a long period of time. Our last name is often mispronounced as well, so pick your battles, right?
Favorite nicknames, specifically fitting to our son: Roughian; also has initials IND, we often call him Indi (later realizing he is extremely independent).
At 6 years old, we have yet to meet another Ian.
My youngest son has the name "Ian" I really like it & didn't hear it really until my Ian & now I know of a few.
Ian Fraser Kilmister better known as Lemmy from Motorhead was an amazing bearer of the name until he died.
In my family it is quite common. My dad is Ian, I am Ian Jr and at our yearly family Coutts reunion which will be the 90th year in 2017 there have been at least 7 Ian Coutts' at the same table. Coutts being a Scottish name that we can trace back to the 1600's.
The meaning of Ian is gift of god or god's gift.
I like it a lot, but it's kind of too common...(Lots of handsome guys are named Ian, that I've met).
In Marvel Comics, this is the name of both the maternal grandfather and adopted son of Steve Rogers (aka Captain America).
I think this name is an exceptional example of the beauty of simpler/shorter names. Ian, although it is a variation of a pre-existing name, holds so much of its own luster to me, including characteristics of strength, beauty and power. It's a very charismatic name!
Even though I imagine an old person with this name, I think the name Ian is very handsome, respectable, strong, classy masculine name! :)
Ian James Corlett (born August 29, 1962) is a Canadian voice actor.
Ian is a character in The Princess and the Frog.
I named my son Ian and loved it when I said it in my head. But now I've discovered that it is very easily misunderstood. Ee-in can sound like Aaand (with a long a sound) from across the room. I kept hearing my kids say Ian, when they weren't really saying his name at all. I found it very confusing and got aggravated hearing it all the time. So now I call him by his middle name Carter. Also, I think Ian is easily misunderstood because of its lack of a hard consonant in the middle of the name. Names like Ethan, have the th in the middle and you can hear better.
Putting down another variant of a name is utterly childish. "Iain" is the true spelling? Not if your name is Ian it isn't. This is like saying that all forms of John, including John itself, Johann, Johannes, Giovanni, Juan, Jean, Sean, Eoin -- and Iain! -- are bastardizations of the original Hebrew Yochanan -- which, historically, they are. Lighten up. There's always room for more than one version of a name.
Ian Falconer (1959-) is the author of the Olivia children's books.
Two fictional bearers:
1) Ian from the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful". Evil character.
2) Ian from Gordon Korman's "Island" trilogy. A nerd, but that's not a bad thing and he saves the group on at least 1 occasion in the series.
I love this name. It is one of my favourite names for a boy.
I love it because of the character Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park. He is my favourite character from the Jurassic Park movies.
Ian Thorpe, nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
My name is IAIN the true spelling of IAN. The name Ian is an embarrassment for any proud Scot who bears it as it almost immediately shows a lack of knowledge of Scottish Names. Many Ians become Iains when they become aware. Like many truly Scottish names they have been bastardised bad English misspellings and this is evident in names which are used for both forename and surname in Calum and Alison. One l is the correct forename and two ls are the surname however English produced name plates and other souvenirs spell IAIN as IAN and CALUM as CALLUM this makes me particularly annoyed as my son is the correctly named CALUM.
A famous bearer is folk singer Ian Tyson.
Ian means precisely nothing and is a bastardized and corrupted version of the Scots Gaelic name Iain which translates directly as John. Incidentally, the owners of this site might like to know that Scotland is not and never has been a part of England! SAOR ALBA!
The I can be pronounced as Ee or Eye. I have met an EE-n and an Eye-n.
Big Brother 14 winner Ian Terry.
Ian Harding is an American actor.
Corey Haim's middle name is Ian, it's cute.
Ian Anthony Dale is an American actor.
I like this version better than John, because it's slightly less common. My dad's name is Jonathan, he often shortens it to Jon, and even though he's a great guy I prefer the form Ian. It's short, yet has two syllables, which means if my future husband has a one syllable surname it won't matter (I have a one syllable name that does NOT flow at all with my short surname, and I can't stand it).
Ian is a common suffix in Armenian surnames.
This name is a bit simple and boring.
I love the name Ian. I'm not really sure how they got Ian out of John. But either way, while it remains one of my favorite names, I doubt I would use it because I feel like it's becoming far too popular in the USA.
Ian Somerhalder is the brilliantly talented actor who plays Damon Salvatore each week on "Vampire Diaries," and believe me, he does a most excellent job of playing that character!
Ian Axel, a singer/pianist who plays ukelele, bears this name.
A very cool name. Unfortunately, it's becoming a tad too popular in the U.S.
Ian Stanley was the keyboardist for the popular '80s band, Tears for Fears. He also co-wrote several of the songs.
This name is simple, but not too simple, and has a nice ring to it.
Ian Laperriere is a French-Canadian hockey player in the NHL.
Love this name. It's my little brother's so I might be a bit biased but it's not overused like so many other names.
I personally love this name. It's simple, short and good-sounding.
Ian McCulloch, the singer of Echo & the Bunnymen is another famous bearer.
Same name as Ian Brady and Ian Huntley, who were both child murderers.
There is also Ian Hunter, famous for writing "Cleveland Rocks" (no, Drew Carey DID NOT write it!)
Ian is the name of one of the character's in Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host.
The name Ian always confused me when I was younger. I always pronounced it eye-an. But now I know it's pronounced E(long e)-an.
Ian Crawford, guitarist for The Cab, is a not-so-famous bearer of this name.
This is my name and I love it! I've yet to meet another Ian before. It has a nice ring to it and is way better than the worn-out name John.It can also be spelled Ein, Ean, or Iann. Can also be pronounced I-an instead of EE-an.
I like names that end in -ian (Adrian, Caspian, Damian, Octavian, etc.), but I hate Ian all by itself.
This is my favorite name for a boy! It's strong and has a nice ring to it. I've only met one Ian my whole life, which is nice, considering I've met sooooo many Johns.
Ian Chesterton, a companion of the First Doctor on "Doctor Who".
I dislike this name. It sounds too Anglo-phile, too fey and prissy. Sounds like a name for a poindexter with glasses.
The very handsome John Corbett plays the character Ian Miller in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Take former England cricketer Ian "Beefy" Botham.
Ian Fleming is the author of the James Bond series of books that the movies are based on.
Also a boys name in Slovenia, probably a variant on the much more popular Jan. (J is pronounced like Y)
Ian McEwan - author of 'Enduring Love, ' 'Atonement' etc. Very talented.
A famous bearer:
One of the most influential artists Ian Brown, 20 February 1963, Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK.
Ian Hecox is from Smosh. Hehe, I love this name.
My best friend Stephanie loves this name. For a girl. She likes to be called this instead of her real name (Roxana Stephanie). Personally, I don't like it on a girl.
Yes, I'm a girl and Ian is my middle name, I honestly feel it's a unsex name but that's my humble opinion. I love my middle and first name and nothing could make me feel otherwise, even if guys do have it! haha.
I thought for a long time that Ian was pronounced JAN, and I didn't like it. Now I know the real pronunciation, but I still don't like it.
I like Ian, it's not as widely used as John and it's at least as nice. It's more unique and has more character.
When I was little I thought the name 'Ian' was spelled 'En' for some strange reason.
Two famous bearers are Ian McKellen and Ian Holm, both in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. Ian McKellen plays Gandalf and Ian Holm plays Bilbo.
Cute name! Love it!
I'm a little biased here but I can add some insight - I legally had my name changed to Ian from "Ivan" to avoid confusion with my dad who had the same name.Best thing about the name is that I don't get any "Ivan the terrible comments" anymore. Still, my wife and I won't be naming our son after me. I don't want the confusion between jr and sr.
I heard a story of a boy with this name in a school in New York, where some of the other students thought he had a girl's name (Ann) because that name can be pronounced "Ian" in a really thick New York accent.
Ian is a great name for a boy, it sounds handsome and strong and isn't a fad name which is nice.
Ian Anderson: The singer/flutist of Jethro Tull.
Scott Ian is the rhythm guitarist of a band called Anthrax and I honestly know a kid named after him. Ian is one of the most adorable kids I've ever met.
Ian is the ending of an imperfect er and ir Spanish word in the third person plural form.
Actor Ian Ziering (Steve on Beverly Hills 90210) bears this name.
The actor Ian Somerhalder bears this name.
Famous bearer: Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division.
A famous bearer of this name is Ian Brown, the lead singer of the Stone Roses.
Some famous Ians include Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, and Ian McKellan, who played Gandalf in "Lord of the Rings."
The vocalist from The Lost Prophets bears the name Ian and he is from south Wales!
Ian is an English version of John, which is the masculine version of Jane, which is Hebrew for Siobhan - my name. So my dad and I have linked names! I like the name Ian, because it cannot really be shortened!
I know that it's been over four years, but I have to correct the bubblybabe's information. Ian is not the English form of John. As the page states, it is the Scottish form. The English form of John is John. While John and Jane can be interchanged according to gender, it is more proper to sat that Jane is the feminine of John rather than John being the masculine form of Jane. Finally, Jane is not the Hebrew form of Siobhan. Yes, Ian and Siobhan are related, but not like that.
Ian can also be short for names ending in -ian (like Damian or Elian).

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