Ian

What Ian means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Ian yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Steady in the US: #76 in 2015 and #83 in 2025. About 1 in 440 US boys in the 2025 records Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Ian?

US: Steady: #76 in 2015, #83 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #493 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2005, when 6,688 boys got the name (#68 that year). First in the US records in 1912.

How common

• About 1 in 435 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 4,120 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,274 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NJ (4.43 per 1,000 boys), MD (4.24 per 1,000 boys), NM (4.15 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Ian is #83 in the US and #585 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.8% of US babies named Ian were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Ean89 US
• Euan14 US · 30 E&W
• Ioan6 US · 31 E&W
• Eian28 US
• Ion14 US · 7 E&W
• Iann19 US
• Eon13 US
• Ioane12 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Iain

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Ian

Boys

• Colin#343Short form of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”^*
• Evan#153“God is gracious”^*
• Bryce#357Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2000, with 4,319 babies; 919 in 2025
• Oscar#223Editor’s note Down from #181 in 2015 to #223 in 2025 in the US
• Juan#159Spanish, meaning “Yahweh is gracious”^*
• Bryan#336Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #166 in 2015, #336 in 2025

For a sister

• Ashlyn#972“dream, vision”^*
• Kaitlyn#799Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #197 in 2015, #799 in 2025
• Jenna#679Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 6,436 babies; 418 in 2025
• Morgan#312Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #121 in 2015, #312 in 2025
• Ashlynn#980Variant of Ashlyn, meaning “dream, vision”^*
• Briana#661Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1994, with 5,000 babies; 431 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ian’s. Rank is US 2025.