Top 16 Most Famous Ians; Who's Your Favorite?

16 Famous Ians: How Many Do You recognize? (Answers; bottom)

Many Americans have a problem recognizing the Christian name Ian.

I'm a Scot, living in Kansas, USA, and when I introduce myself, I’ve often met with quite mystified stares… Americans, it seems, have problems with the name, Ian. They either don't get it right away, and I've got to repeat it a few times, or they just can't get the pronunciation correct.

The Christian name, Ian or Iain, is Scottish in origin, and is Scotland’s version of John. Ian has variations in many languages such as Irish (Eoin), Welsh (Ioan), Breton (Yann) and Romanian (Ioan).

Most people pronounce the name EE-AN, although the numpty Ian Zeiring of Beverly Hills 90210 mistakenly pronounces his name EYE-AN… (what a wanker).

Anyway, it seems that even after having many famous ‘Ians’ a fair section of the American populace have problems with its recognition. So… I though I’d compile my own list of the top 16 famous Ians… (My criteria for the list; nothing but my own imagination… how many do you recognize?)

Famous Ians

1. Ian McShane - English actor; Lovejoy, Dallas and Deadwood
2. Ian McKellen - English actor; X-Men, Lord of the Rings
3. Ian Fleming - English commando, spy and novelist, creator of James Bond and Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang
4. Ian Gillan - Lead singer of hard rock band, Deep Purple
5. Ioan Gruffud – Welsh actor; Hornblower, Fantastic Four and TV series Forever
6. Ian Holm - English actor; Alien, Time Bandits, Lord of the Rings
7. Ian Dury - Singer and songwriter with the band, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick, Reasons to be Cheerful
8. Ian (Lemmy) Kilminster - Vocalist/bass player in Hawkwind and Motorhead
9. Ian Paice - Drummer with Deep Purple, Whitesnake and the Gary Moore band
10. Ian Bannen - Scottish actor; Too Late the Hero, Gandhi, Braveheart, Waking Ned Devine
11. Ian Rankin - Scottish novelist. Author of the Inspector Rebus series
12. Ian Somerhalder - American Actor, in Lost, and the Vampire Diaries
13. Ian Matthews - A member of Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort
14. Ian Anderson - Lead singer and flautist of rock band Jethro Tull
15. Ian Lavender – English actor; played private pike in Dad’s Army, and Eastenders
16. Ian Ogilvy - English actor, novelist and playwright; The Return of the Saint
(And the next 4 just to round it up to a tidy 20)
17. Ian Woosnam - Welsh golfer, Masters winner in 1991
18. Ian Carmichael - English actor; The Colditz Story, Lucky Jim
19. Ian Hunter - Lead singer and guitarist of Mott the Hoople
20. Sir Ian Botham - English cricketer, commentator and sports personality
Other notable Ians, who didn’t make my 16/20 list are;
Ian McDonald - British musician, a member of both King Crimson and Foreigner
Ian Wright - English footballer, for Arsenal, Crystal Palace, and more
Ian Curtis - Singer with Joy Division
Ian Brady – Moors murderer
Ian Baker-Finch - Australian golfer, the winner of the 1991 British Open
Ian Hislop - Satirist, TV personality, and editor of Private Eye, panelist on Have I Got News For You
Ian Poulter - English golfer.

Oh, and the answers?: from top left;
Hunter, Henry (Ian) Cusack, Rankin, Rush, Wright, Kilminster, Anderson, Sommerhalder, McShane, Poulter, Brady, Holm, Botham, Mckellen, Zeiring (wanker), and Fleming.

Check out this other Ian... writer Ian Hall

www.ianhallauthor.com

LOL!