The name Ian is of Scottish origin and means "God is gracious." It is a variation of the given name John, which itself comes from the Hebrew name Yochanan meaning "Yahweh (God) has been gracious in giving me this child."
Ian was originally used as a pet form of the name John but became popular as an independent given name in its own right during the 20th century. It reached peak popularity in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, where it consistently ranked within the top 50 names for boys.
Notable people named Ian include the Scottish poet Ian Hamilton Finlay, the Canadian actor Ian Holm, and the American musician Ian Anderson of the rock band Jethro Tull. The name Ian has also been used in popular culture as a character name, such as in the TV series "The X-Files" where one of the main characters is named Ian Hart.
Overall, Ian is a strong and traditional Scottish name with a long history of use, both as a pet form of John and as an independent given name. Its meaning, "God is gracious," adds to its positive associations and makes it a popular choice for parents looking for a meaningful name for their sons.
The name Ian experienced significant growth in popularity over the course of the 20th century and into the early 21st century, with a notable peak in births occurring in 2007 (6,250 births). The name first gained traction around the 1940s, with a sharp increase in births observed between 1942 and 1943 (80 to 68 births), indicating that Ian began to become more favored among parents during this period. The popularity of Ian continued to rise steadily throughout the following decades until it reached its peak in the early 2000s, after which the number of annual births named Ian started to decline slightly. Despite this recent decrease in popularity, Ian remains a widely recognized and classic name, with over 249,130 total births recorded between 1912 and 2023.