# Who are so few Americans named Ian, Nigel or Simon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 16, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915 "2007-10-16T16:26:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/61 "2007-10-19T18:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] I was looking at that British name chart… Callum? Seriously? [/QUOTE] Mmm..Calum Best. [QUOTE=Martini Enfield] Don’t forget Bruce Campbell! [/QUOTE] And Bruce Wayne! ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/62 "2007-10-19T18:40:36Z")
[QUOTE=The Sonoran Lizard King] How is Darrin as a boy’s name viewed in the UK these days? They’re very rare in the US, more often spelled Darren, and rare even then. I have a vague idea it’s more popular in the UK than the US. [/QUOTE] It’s Darren here too, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it spelled Darrin. It was popular name in the sixties and seventies, so there are lots of thirtysomethings called Darren around. But it has since fallen out of fashion. Has a kind of blue collar ring to it, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/63 "2007-10-19T19:41:40Z")
My husband’s name is Ian. I had always thought it was a pretty common name, I _know_ I’ve known other Ian’s before him, yet people are Completely Flummoxed when he gives it, and he always has to repeat it, spell it, and repeat it again. Even then, chances are about 90% that, when he is called, it will be pronounced “Eye-an”. OTOH, it does make it easy to recognize sales calls when they ring asking for Eye-an. He’s also been called I-ron, I-ran, **Jan** (obviously. someone needs to work on the difference between their I’s and J’s), Allen…it’s like people just cannot comprehend it. Bizarre. And don’t _even_ get me started on folks’ reactions when they learn he does not have a middle name. Unacceptable! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/64 "2007-10-19T19:54:13Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I’m wondering with the US being a former British colony, and the dominance of Anglo-Saxon names as given names, why are the names Nigel, Ian and Simon so rare in the US, but so common in the UK? [/QUOTE] Well, first, shouldn’t you give us some data showing that Nigel, Ian, and Simon are so common in the UK? Anyway, how’s this for a guess: The names Nigel, Ian and Simon became popular in England after the biggest wave of immigration from the UK to the USA was finished. If the names became popular in England only during a time when there was little emigration to the USA, then it would make sense that the name wouldn’t be prevalent in the USA. I notice that there was no one named Nigel, Ian or Simon on the Mayflower, according to this list > **[List of Mayflower passengers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_passengers_on_the_Mayflower)** > > This is a list of the passengers on board the Mayflower during its trans-Atlantic voyage of September 6 – November 9, 1620, the majority of them becoming the settlers of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Thirty-seven passengers were members of a separatist Puritan congregation in Leiden, the Netherlands (also known as Brownists), who were seeking to establish a colony in the New World where they could practice their religion without interference from the English government or church. The M Note... ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/65 "2007-10-19T20:03:42Z")
[QUOTE=NailBunny] And don’t _even_ get me started on folks’ reactions when they learn he does not have a middle name. Unacceptable! :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] I would suggest he make up a middle name for himself in order to avoid this situation in the future. I suggest “Nunya.” ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/66 "2007-10-19T21:56:40Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] It’s Darren here too, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it spelled Darrin. [/QUOTE] Thanks, more for me to rant to my therapist about, not only did she give me an obscure equivalent of ‘Hank’ as a moniker, she effin’ mispelled it. But for some reason, I’ve been popular with the Wiccan crowd. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/67 "2007-10-19T23:31:55Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] . . I notice that there was no one named Nigel, Ian or Simon on the Mayflower, according to this list > **[List of Mayflower passengers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_passengers_on_the_Mayflower)** > > This is a list of the passengers on board the Mayflower during its trans-Atlantic voyage of September 6 – November 9, 1620, the majority of them becoming the settlers of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Thirty-seven passengers were members of a separatist Puritan congregation in Leiden, the Netherlands (also known as Brownists), who were seeking to establish a colony in the New World where they could practice their religion without interference from the English government or church. The M Note... [/QUOTE] Although there were people named Love, Desire, and Wrestling. I’ve been trying to figure out why the name Simon seemed more normal than the other names that have been listed, even though I don’t know anyone named Simon. I think it’s because of Simon Says, Simple Simon, and Simon the Chipmonk. It’s a name that comes up in childhood even if no one is wearing it. And now I’m thinking of Simon Bar Sinister. I haven’t thought of him in decades. (Underdog flashback.) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/68 "2007-10-19T23:39:55Z")
What about the names that scream out “American!”? How many people in the UK are called Wayne, Travis, or Chuck\*? \*Yes, I know that’s just Charles, but I can’t imagine an Englishman volunteering to go by “Chuck”. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/69 "2007-10-20T00:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=The Sonoran Lizard King] Thanks, more for me to rant to my therapist about, not only did she give me an obscure equivalent of ‘Hank’ as a moniker, she effin’ mispelled it. But for some reason, I’ve been popular with the Wiccan crowd. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Shit, if I had the IQ of a slug I might have realised you were enquiring about your own name. Did I mention Prince Darrin the Great, in whose honour a week-long national holiday is celebrated to this day? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/70 "2007-10-20T15:33:54Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] What about the names that scream out “American!”? How many people in the UK are called Wayne, Travis, or Chuck\*? [/QUOTE] I know people with all three. They are not uncommon names in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/71 "2007-10-20T16:04:55Z")
Yeah, but in the UK only Wayne is common. “Travis” may have had a brief spike of popularity a few years back. “Chuck”, absolutely not. It is stereotypically American, it would be like naming your kid Yosemite Sam. If we want to abbreviate Charles we use “Charlie” or occasionally “Chas”. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/72 "2007-10-20T17:55:55Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] Shit, if I had the IQ of a slug I might have realised you were enquiring about your own name. [/Quote] Well, I did sort of not mention that, no worries. If was IRL my NVS would’ve made it more clear it was self deprecating humor. I was looking for a non-biased reaction. [QUOTE=Usram] Did I mention Prince Darrin the Great, in whose honour a week-long national holiday is celebrated to this day? [/QUOTE] No, but it rings vague bells. No **Google Fu** wait, it doesn’t but it’s a damn fine Idea. So long as the Queen & Parliment see fit and have no objections to my current title of King of Sonoran Lizards, or of enobling an American for real good goddam reason. Also, by the grace of good Goddess Eris, who’s Episkopos I’ve had the good luck to make myself, Last night There was a ‘Darrin’ (didn’t think to check the credits to see if the character was named, probably not) on an episode of ‘Seinfeld’ last night. He was a late 20 something intern assigned to Kramer’s fake corporation Kra-merica. The other-one I’ve seen was a British show, with a Darrin as a Bumper Car attendant, pretty much an extra, but his name was called out. ---
**Author:** ![brownsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@brownsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownsfan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/73 "2007-10-21T19:11:15Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] Don’t forget Bruce Campbell! 🙂 I’m mystified by where the “Bruce as a Gay Name” thing came from- I remember it being referenced in a Monty Python sketch, though. FWIW, I’ve always pronounced “Ian” (and heard people with the name Ian pronounce it) as something that’s best phoenetically transcribed as “Ean” (or maybe “Eanne”). I’ve never heard it pronounced “Eye-an”, FWIW [/QUOTE] CBS (I think) has a football announcer named Ian Eagle. He pronounces it “Eyean”. Sounds strange to my ears, because my son’s name is Ian (Eeyan). We like our way so much better. He’s biracial and adopted. His natural mother originally named him DaShawn Sonata, Sonata being his middle name. Not sure this has to do with anything other than _Sonata_? Where do the hell do they get these names? Car commercials? Before I get accused of anything by using the word “they”, I mean stupid kids. ---
**Author:** ![MonaLizaT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MonaLizaT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonaLizaT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/74 "2007-10-22T00:21:32Z")
One of my sisters named her first born “Ian.” He is now 19. We have no clue where she got the idea, as she was raised in Florida and that is not a family name. My redneck neighbors have a set of twins, named Nigel and Nathan. I can only assume that they watched the Drew Carey Show. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/75 "2007-10-22T22:01:22Z")
[QUOTE=myskepticsight] My friend’s brother was going to name his kid Gareth, but ended up going with Xavier instead. [/QUOTE] Please tell me they don’t pronounce it with the added “eg” syllable at the beginning of it. Back to the pronunciation of Ian, I knew a couple of Ians who pronounced it with an E sound at the beginning. Is that not the normal pronunciation? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/76 "2007-10-22T22:11:23Z")
[QUOTE=jasonh300] Back to the pronunciation of Ian, I knew a couple of Ians who pronounced it with an E sound at the beginning. Is that not the normal pronunciation? [/QUOTE] It’s the normal pronunciation in its homeland of Scotland (Iain similarly). The eye-an pronunciation I think is the correct one for the Welsh Ieuan. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/77 "2007-10-22T22:36:02Z")
In my first few years of elementary school (early 1970s, Wisconsin) I had a classmate named Ian. He had a brother named Rowan. (How British is THAT?) Perfectly lovely names, but they were teased mercilessly. I didn’t know it back then, but the family was of Asian Indian descent. I don’t recall whether the parents had British accents (I played at their house often); and of course I have no idea whether they came here from overseas. People frequently mispronounced Ian as “eye-ANN.” * * * Around the same time, I had a friend whose father’s name was Bruce. He was a big, hulking man. So I was surprised to learn of the Bruce = effeminate/homosexual association. I always thought of it as a he-man name. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/78 "2007-10-22T22:47:55Z")
I know a couple of Ians. I just thought of this thread today because the guy behind the counter where I got my breakfast was an Ian. I know no nigels or Simons. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/79 "2007-10-23T05:55:20Z")
I’ve known several Ians, have a cousin Colin [pn. Collin] named for a British rocker his mother knew [never became famous], and have known one American Nigel (though he was born when his USAF parents were stationed in England, hence the name); I can’t recall ever knowing a Simon. I’ve known a disproportionate number of English guys, though, whose names were Ivan [3] and Ray [at least 3]- are Ivan and Ray popular names in England? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915/80 "2007-10-23T09:44:29Z")
Ray is originally short for Raymond, although I’m sure there are plenty of people whose name is simply Ray. It’s a middle-aged or older man’s name. I think Ivan is more of a Welsh name, and it’s less common. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-so-few-americans-named-ian-nigel-or-simon/422915.md?page=5)