Ian
Feminine · “Hebrew Yohanan”
Ian is given to boys far more often — 257,664 boys against 815 girls since 1880. See Ian as a boy name
Ian was a Scottish name and nothing else until the twentieth century. It spread across Britain in a couple of generations, which is unusually fast for a name that had been regional for five hundred years.
How old is the name Ian?
Ian first appears in US birth records in 1940 — 85 years ago. The typical Ian alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 800 people named Ian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ian most popular?
Ian peaked in 1986, reaching #2724 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 8,193 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Where it comes from
From Iohannes to Ian
The story of Ian
Gaelic took John from Latin as Eoin and later, in Scotland, as Iain, and it stayed inside Gaelic-speaking Scotland for centuries. The anglicized spelling Ian appears in the nineteenth century, and the name then did something few regional names manage: it went national. By the 1950s and 1960s it was among the most common boys' names in England as well as Scotland, carried there by no single famous bearer but by the general Victorian and Edwardian enthusiasm for Scottish things. It reached America later and more modestly. The small number of American girls given the name are outside every tradition that uses it, and the spelling is likely to be read as male in every English-speaking country.
Meaning
Hebrew Yohanan, Yah is gracious
Ian is an anglicized spelling of Scottish Gaelic Iain, the Gaelic form of John, from Latin Iohannes and Hebrew Yohanan. It is a male name throughout the English-speaking world; its small American female use peaks in 1986.
How the name formed
- Iohannes
- Iain
- Ian
Related forms: Iain · John · Eoin
Pronouncing Ian
EE-un
Two syllables, stress on the first. Iain and Ian are homophones; the Gaelic spelling keeps an extra vowel.
Nicknames for Ian
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1940
- Most girls named
- 198635 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2724reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%8 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Iain in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- John in English — same name
- Eoin in Irish — same name
Ians among us
people named Ian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Ian
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Derenda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Derenda climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Derenda's path sketches the road Ian is walking now.
Ian sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Ian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters and two syllables, easy to say and to spell.
- The name behind it is the most widely borne in the Western world.
- It pairs cleanly with long surnames.
- It is a male name everywhere it is commonly used.
- Its American female use is small and brief.
- It will be assumed to be a boy's name on paper.
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What they receive
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Ian
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Ian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ian in 2025?
- Ian ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ian?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Ian — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ian with classmates?
- Ian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ian and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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