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• Ian
  Ian

  noun

  a male given name, Scottish form of John.
• -ian
  -ian

  a suffix with the same meaning and properties as -an, though -ian is now the more productive of the two suffixes in recent coinages, especially when the base noun ends in a consonant: Orwellian; Washingtonian .

Ian

¹ American  

[ee-uhn, ee-ahn, ahy-uhn] / ˈi ən, ˈi ɑn, ˈaɪ ən /

noun

1. a male given name, Scottish form of John.

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-ian ² American  

1. a suffix with the same meaning and properties as -an, though -ian is now the more productive of the two suffixes in recent coinages, especially when the base noun ends in a consonant: Orwellian; Washingtonian .

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-ian British  

suffix

1. a variant of -an

   Etonian

   Johnsonian

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Etymology

Origin of -ian

Extracted from Latin loanwords in which -ānus (adjective suffix) is joined to stems ending in i; see -an

Example Sentences

“In theory, it should work,” says Ian Cohen, head of solar and space physics at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who isn’t affiliated with the research.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 10, 2026

Ian Tostenson, head of the British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association, described being in a host city as a crash course in "the enormity of the World Cup".

From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026

Ian Charles, Arctos’s chief executive and managing partner, said the firm managed to overcome a difficult fundraising environment because of the strategy’s specialized approach, which combines custom financing with strategic guidance.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 7, 2026

Ian Williamson, dean of the business school, said the new federal policy played a role in the decision as well as student scheduling preferences.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 6, 2026

We met resistance in Joe Sullivan's and Ian Manuel's cases as well.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson