# American Ians. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491 "2005-05-18T22:45:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/1 "2005-05-18T22:45:12Z")
I was watching Simpsons, the bit where Cletus is calling out his large pack of children. One was called Ian but I didn’t notice the name being called out. Then the person I was watching asked me to think of an American, real or fictional, called Ian (or Iain, an alternate spelling) I managed to name a few Brits (Mckellan, Holm, Rush, Mcdiarmid) but couldn’t think of any American names. (But in the usual style of brain function as soon as the issue of peoples names comes up the part of the brain that connects names with faces shuts down completely) At one point my step-dad said, in all seriousness, “What’s Ted Danson’s name?” He also suggested I go on “That straight dope thing you go on” and ask there… er … here. You guys are Mostly Americans. Know any Ians that might be internationally known names? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/2 "2005-05-18T22:52:36Z")
How about Ian MacKaye, the punk rock icon? ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/3 "2005-05-18T22:53:23Z")
I can’t think of one. Ian has become a reasonably popular name here in recent years, but there aren’t many over, say, 15 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/4 "2005-05-18T22:57:13Z")
“Then the person I was watching” ‘With’ damnit! Sinister. Just like the ad I saw half an hour ago telling me that all the men I met today imagined having sex with me :eek: I bloody hope not! I’ve never heard of McKaye, but if he’s famous he counts. I’ll mention it to SF when I see him. Hopefully he won’t be imagining having se… no I can’t say it. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/5 "2005-05-18T23:00:18Z")
Ian MacKaye is certainly famous among punk rock fans worldwide. His name brings up more than 42,000 hits on Google. I’d call that fairly famous. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/6 "2005-05-18T23:01:00Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Sinister. Just like the ad I saw half an hour ago telling me that all the men I met today imagined having sex with me :eek: I bloody hope not! d00d…what was this commercial for? ---
**Author:** ![MsPrufrock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@MsPrufrock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsPrufrock)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/7 "2005-05-18T23:02:39Z")
Ian Ziering - the guy from Beverly Hills 90210 who played Steve And though I never really watched the show I remember it because he pronounced it “Eye-an” instead of “Eee-an” I don’t know if he counts as truly famous or not. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/8 "2005-05-18T23:03:28Z")
Ian Akin was (is?) a comic book inker. He usually worked together with a fellow named Brian Garvey. I remember him from Iron Man in the 1980’s, but he’s done plenty of other stuff as well. And he’s American. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/9 "2005-05-18T23:04:40Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > d00d…what was this commercial for? Oddly I failed to remember the product being advertised. Something tells me it was aimed at women though. Not sure what. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/10 "2005-05-18T23:23:38Z")
Ian has consistantly been around the 70th most popular name for babies born in the US since the mid 1980’s according to the [SSA](http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/11 "2005-05-18T23:27:21Z")
What happened in the mid 80s to make ‘ian’ so popular. My Step Dad did mention that it was one of those ‘fad’ names. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/12 "2005-05-19T00:01:11Z")
I knew a guy at work named Ian Flemming. He was born _just_ before the James Bond books started coming out. It is a sort of ‘fad’ name, along with all those other British-Isles-type names that became popular (I mean, we have lots of names in common, but there are a whole bunch that are rare here and sound very British). I’ve never met anyone named Nigel or Clive or Beryl or Gemma, though–only certain names made the cut. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/13 "2005-05-19T00:05:29Z")
I went to school with a few Ians. Oddly enough, when I was in first grade, the kid in my class named Ian had been born in India. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/14 "2005-05-19T00:22:07Z")
My name’s Ian. I’m not internationally known _yet_, but my time approaches. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/15 "2005-05-19T01:10:39Z")
And of course there is the Ian that was just on Survivor. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/16 "2005-05-19T01:13:34Z")
On the just-finished 10th season of Survivor, there was a gangly kid named Ian Rosenberger. Check out the Survivor threads to see the women fawning all over him. My college roommate was named Ian, but his dad was from Scotland, so that may not count. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Kenneth_Noisewater)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/17 "2005-05-19T01:42:54Z")
Ian Churchill drew some of my favorite comic books, and I have a distant cousin named Ian. It’s admittedly more popular across the pond… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/18 "2005-05-19T01:51:58Z")
[Ian Randal Strock](http://www.lrcpubs.com/irs.html), science fiction writer and editor ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/19 "2005-05-19T02:10:34Z")
Back in the 60s, there was a fairly popular Canadian folk music duo, “Ian and Sylvia” Tyson. I think he’s been attempting a comeback recently. (And, of course, there’s Janice Ian.) ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491/20 "2005-05-19T02:13:29Z")
My brother in law is named Ian and he’s an American. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-ians/304491.md?page=2)