Ian
A Scottish name derived from the Hebrew name John, meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 246,843 living Americans carry the first name Ian. It sits at #75 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ian today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ian births was 2005 (6,704 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Judith (245,223).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ian. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ian is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 807 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
247K
~ 1 in 1,389 Americans
Peak year
2005
6,704 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#75
Tracked since 1912
Census
Ian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 222,813 people with the first name Ian, which placed it at #251 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#251
National first-name rank
People counted
223K
222,813 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
73.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ian is White at 69.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (5.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ian described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.1% · 153,977
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 34,759
- Black or African American5.4% · 11,979
- Two or more races5.2% · 11,533
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 9,361
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,204
Gender
Gender distribution for Ian
Out of the 254,514 babies given the name Ian since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ian as a male name
- Ranked #75 in 2024
- 4,547 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (6,688 births)
Ian as a female name
- Ranked #11,449 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1986 (35 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ian appears almost entirely male. Of the 222,811 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Ian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ian from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 62,047 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Ian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ian by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ian, while Wyoming, South Dakota, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,934 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ian
The name Ian is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." This name is the origin of the English name John, with Ian being a Scottish Gaelic derivative. The name first emerged in Scotland during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ian can be found in the early 13th century Scottish text "The Brus," which chronicles the life of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots from 1306 to 1329. The text mentions "Ian de Bretayn," referring to a knight who fought alongside Robert the Bruce.
In the 16th century, the name Ian gained popularity among Scottish nobility. One notable bearer of the name was Sir Ian Moncreiffe of that Ilk, a Scottish baronet who lived from 1537 to 1594. He served as a diplomat and was known for his role in the Reformation in Scotland.
Another historical figure with the name Ian was Ian Lom MacDonald, a Scottish poet and warrior who lived from around 1624 to 1709. He was a member of the Clan Donald and is renowned for his eloquent Gaelic poetry, which documented the turbulent events of his time.
In the 18th century, Ian Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton (1701-1768), was a prominent Scottish nobleman and politician. He served as the Lord President of the Court of Session, the highest civil court in Scotland, from 1757 to 1766.
During the 19th century, Sir Ian Hamilton (1853-1947) was a British Army officer who rose to the rank of General and served in various campaigns, including the Second Boer War and World War I. He is remembered for his role in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.
Over time, the name Ian has become popular not only in Scotland but also in other parts of the English-speaking world, often chosen for its Scottish heritage and strong, masculine sound.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ian
People
Ian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ian as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 246,843 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ian going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,389 US residents.
Is Ian a common name?
We classify Ian as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254,514 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ian most popular?
The single biggest year for Ian was 2005, when 6,704 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ian is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 222,813 people with the name Ian, or 73.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #251 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ian in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ian appears almost entirely male. Of the 222,811 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ian is White at 69.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (5.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.1% (153,977 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ian a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Ian in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ian in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ian can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Ian?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.