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The first name 
Ian

Ian is a first name typically given to boys, but in rare cases also used as a girls name.

The name Ian is very popular!

The first name Ian is one of the top 100 most popular boys names in the US – currently at #74 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Ian, accounting for approximately 0.30 % of all newborn boys. In the entire USA, approximately 241,323 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Ian. That is 0.07 % of all living Americans.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Ian

What does the name 
Ian mean?

Ian is a variant of the Scottish Gaelic name Iain. Both names derive from John, which means ‘God is gracious’ or ‘gift of God’. Ian is often associated with God’s grace and blessings.

Scottish Gaelic... developed out of Old Irish and became a spoken language in the 13th century. Today, about 1% of the Scottish population is still able to speak Scottish Gaelic.

Ian has many creative namesakes

A famous English actor

Sir Ian McKellen (*1939)
McKellen is a famous English stage and film actor. He made his first professional appearance on stage in 1961, winning numerous important awards for his performances. His best known film role is Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings franchise. McKellen is an LGBT+-activist.

Creator of James Bond

Ian Fleming (1908 - 1964)
Fleming worked for the British Naval Intelligence Division during World War II, and as a journalist. He used his knowledge to write the James Bond spy novels, which became a major success alongside its film adaptions. Casino Royale, the first Bond novel, was published in 1953.

An English novelist

Ian McEwan (*1948)
Beginning his career writing Gothic short stories, McEwan has become known for novels such as The Comfort of Strangers (1981) and Atonement (2001). The author, who was nicknamed Ian Macabre, also works as a screenwriter, sometimes adapting his own novels.

An internet personality

Ian Kochinski (*1994)
Better known as Vaush, he is an American YouTuber and Twitch streamer. In his livestreams, he debates politics from a libertarian socialist perspective, reaching an audience of millions. He started his internet career after studying sociology and graduating in 2018.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Ian, you might first think of people. But did you know that there are also places with the name Ian? Are you also called Ian? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

Several storms...

bear the name Ian. There are Hurricane Ian in the Atlantic Ocean in 2022, and in the Pacific Ocean the Tropical Storm Ian in 1996, and the Cyclone Ian in 2014, for example.

A moon crater...

near Mons Bradley is called Ian. It was approved in 1976 and has a diameter of a little less than a mile.

Ian -
a name for the future?

This is a real surprise! Ian is a name that has been around for a long time, but only really took off in the 21st century. In the year 2003, it reached its best rank at #65 according to our SmartGenius statistics. This makes Ian much more popular than in previous generations, where it was so rare for several years that it was not even recorded in the statistics. While the name Ian was observed for the first time ever in 1912, it now seems to have found its place in the zeitgeist of the 21st century. In 2003, the year of its highest popularity, the name was given a total of 6,480 times. Whether this beautiful boys' name can repeat or even exceed its previous best ranking in the coming years remains to be seen, but the prospects are promising given the positive trend.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Ian was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Ian - cementing the new path

In 2022, Ian ranked #74 in our SmartGenius statistics. In absolute figures, this means it was given to baby boys a total of 4,481 times. No one knows what names (or combinations of numbers and letters) will be popular 50 years from now, but given its popularity in the early years of this millennium, there is a good chance that Ian will not disappear from the screen anytime soon.

Ian -
well known in all states of the USA, most popular in Alaska

There are only 386 different male names registered in every single state in the U.S., and Ian is one of them. However, Ian is not equally widespread in all states, but people in Alaska seem to particularly fancy this name – the 841 men called Ian who live here are 0,335% of all male residents and push their name up to #77 in our SmartGenius statistics, easily placing it in the top 100 most common male names in Alaska. If you look at all the states in the USA together, you can currently find as many as 241,323 people with the name Ian. Across all regions and age groups, this lands Ian on position 145 in our SmartGenius ranking of the top male names – of course, the current popularity as a baby name for newborns looks somewhat different, as you can see from the statistics above.

Ian has 3 letters 
and begins with an I

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter I is quite rare as a first letter for boys' names: only 1.5% of all common boys' names in the US begin with an I. The most common first letters of boys' names, by the way, are J, A and D, while X, U and Q are the least common initials of boys' names.

With only three letters, the name Ian is obviously very short. In fact, only 1.0% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly three letters. Just 0.2% of all first names are even shorter and only have two letters, while nearly 99% of all boys’ and girls’ names use more than three letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

That means that if 1.5% of all boys' names begin with an I, this initial letter is significantly less common than the other letters on average. Nevertheless, there are boys' names with I that are quite popular, the most common at present is Isaac.

Other names with 
I, a and n

If you take all the letters in the name Ian – I, a and n – and put them together again, you can form other names, such as Ani or others.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Ian

If your name is Ian and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Ian

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Ian, you can simply say:

Igloo

Apple

Nut

This is how the name Ian is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Ian in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Ian

Ian

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Ian

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Ian is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

I
A
N

Have you ever waved the name Ian

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

I
A
N

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Ian sounds like this: