??? Not obvious to me – please do enlighten! (Or is this a whoosh?)
(If you mean that it, in some circles, is one of a hundred slang terms for a part of the male anatomy, okay, but is it really “losing popularity” due to that minor association? I kinda doubt it.)
That was what I meant, just like no one calls their kid Willy or Dick any more.
My son’s name is Simon and I’m of Polish descent, drive a Mazda and eat a lot of pork 
When we told people what we were naming our son, most people’s reaction was along the lines of “Oh, that’s kind of unusual” but tempered by the fact that it was a Biblical name and not as ‘foreign’ sounding as Nigel. I never really equated it with England but I don’t keep up on those things. I just thought of it as Biblical from the New Testament. To be completely honest, half of the name’s charm was that it went well with his middle name (Jeffrey).
Come to think about it, my nephew (of Polish/Italian descent) is named Ian. Now that I know my sister & I have been carrying water for the UK, my next kid is getting named Mieczyslaw.
Ask Ian Ziering.
And Clive Owen is turning things around on that.
None of them were at all common in the UK before the mid-20th century.
For example, I did a search on the 1841 England & Wales census for Nigels, and found there were only 14 in total. Ian was even rarer - only 6. I can’t get all the way back to the 18th century, but I think this makes the point.
And why no Gareths, or Liams?
Well, “Liam” is just a diminutive of “William,” isn’t it?
Does anyone have insight into different names between Germany and Austria? Spain/Latin America? Portugal/Brazil?
Additionally, “Collin” is #181.
If you want a real British boy’s name go with Vivian, which is not in the top 1,000 U.S. names.
I wasn’t aware Ian was a British name. Ignorance fought.
My old neightbor from across the street was named Ian. His grandmother is from England though.
I knew an Ian in grade school. He pronounced it “Ion”. His father was an rocket scientist, maybe that had something to do with it.
Is Evelyn still used over there?
How about Percy?
Well to be fair, I was born in Scotland, but am really about as Canadian as … as … well, I was 6 when I came here. So, that’s why my son’s name is Ian.
acsenray - I had to Google Ian Ziering, and yes for some unknown reason he mispronounces his own name. (Like the family I know who named their daughter Gillian and pronounce it with a hard “G” as in, well Gilligan. :smack: )
Wee Bairn - No Liam’s? 
I know a couple around my son’s age, and thought it was quite popular. (I just looked it up and it was 98th in the US for 2006.) Whereas
Ian is the Scottish form of John, which might explain why the name is more common on the other side of the pond. Of course the Irish version, Sean, is in pretty standard American usage, which sort of demolishes my theory… :smack:
I’ve known several boys named Colin/Collin. Never thought too much about it, other than the obvious anatomical association.
Never in my life met somebody named Nigel. It remains in the mind of this Anglophile the stereotypical English name for a boy.
A diminuitive of Percival, correct?
Can’t speak for others, but to me, Percy is marked as an African-American name (cf. Tyrone, Shaniqua, etc.) due to the rap mogul Master P (real name Percy Miller) and two two real-life Percys I knew in school.
Come to think of it … who are all these notable British Percys? Is it really a stereotypically British name? Hear about Nigels, Colins, etc. … see 'em on TV and such … but no British Percys have entered my experience :shrug:
No. A name in its own right. Originally the surname of the Earls of Northumberland.
Well, there was the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, for one.
Ian, Colin, Nigel, Trevor, and other names we associate with England no longer place in the top 100 in English names (though Rhys still places in the top 50 and Muhammad has moved into the top 25 each year and higher than that if you count Mohammed). Ian is now in the Top 100 in America but not in England , while Muhammed/Mohammed are in the Top 1000 in the U.S. but fairly far down the list. , while this chart of the most popular 21st century boys’ names in England and Wales shows a return to the standards you find both places (though Jack, while popular in America [where it’s usually a nickname for John or Jackson], is top of the charts 5 years running in England/Wales). In a generation there will be far more American Ians than British Ians and far more British Muhammads than either.