Iain
Iain was given to 11 boys in 2025, #7,353 among boys’ names; 2,911 Americans have been recorded with it since 1953 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,810 Americans named Iain and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 17 and 33.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Iain by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Iain mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Iain is “a male given name from Scottish Gaelic, equivalent to English John.”
From Scottish Gaelic. Cognate of John; see there for more.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Iain?
#7,353 among boys’ names, 2025
Iain fell from #2,500 in 2015 to #7,353 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 26.1 to 6.4 per million.
126 babies in 2003, the peak
Iain peaked in 2003, when 126 boys were given it, #1,180 among boys’ names. The 11 births of 2025 are 9% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 | #7,353 | 6.4 |
| 2024 | 25 | #4,241 | 14.5 |
| 2023 | 24 | #4,383 | 14.0 |
| 2022 | 27 | #4,026 | 15.5 |
| 2021 | 23 | #4,416 | 13.1 |
| 2020 | 45 | #2,739 | 26.1 |
| 2019 | 43 | #2,872 | 24.0 |
| 2018 | 38 | #3,065 | 20.9 |
| 2017 | 35 | #3,267 | 18.9 |
| 2016 | 44 | #2,739 | 23.2 |
Every recorded year (69)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 50 | #2,500 | 26.1 |
| 2014 | 59 | #2,259 | 30.7 |
| 2013 | 48 | #2,543 | 25.4 |
| 2012 | 69 | #2,019 | 36.4 |
| 2011 | 69 | #1,990 | 36.3 |
| 2010 | 67 | #2,045 | 34.9 |
| 2009 | 95 | #1,657 | 47.9 |
| 2008 | 79 | #1,847 | 38.7 |
| 2007 | 85 | #1,750 | 41.0 |
| 2006 | 90 | #1,607 | 43.8 |
| 2005 | 106 | #1,404 | 53.1 |
| 2004 | 124 | #1,224 | 62.5 |
| 2003 | 126 | #1,180 | 63.8 |
| 2002 | 113 | #1,215 | 58.2 |
| 2001 | 98 | #1,325 | 50.4 |
| 2000 | 95 | #1,341 | 48.4 |
| 1999 | 92 | #1,310 | 47.9 |
| 1998 | 74 | #1,488 | 38.7 |
| 1997 | 76 | #1,426 | 40.3 |
| 1996 | 86 | #1,279 | 45.4 |
| 1995 | 63 | #1,514 | 33.1 |
| 1994 | 52 | #1,718 | 26.9 |
| 1993 | 44 | #1,875 | 22.4 |
| 1992 | 56 | #1,582 | 28.0 |
| 1991 | 46 | #1,746 | 22.8 |
| 1990 | 29 | #2,392 | 14.1 |
| 1989 | 37 | #1,959 | 18.5 |
| 1988 | 33 | #1,960 | 17.2 |
| 1987 | 49 | #1,470 | 26.2 |
| 1986 | 34 | #1,806 | 18.5 |
| 1985 | 29 | #1,986 | 15.7 |
| 1984 | 33 | #1,740 | 18.3 |
| 1983 | 35 | #1,669 | 19.5 |
| 1982 | 32 | #1,789 | 17.6 |
| 1981 | 22 | #2,288 | 12.3 |
| 1980 | 16 | #2,878 | 9.0 |
| 1979 | 16 | #2,824 | 9.3 |
| 1978 | 19 | #2,415 | 11.6 |
| 1977 | 19 | #2,398 | 11.6 |
| 1976 | 17 | #2,544 | 10.8 |
| 1975 | 15 | #2,682 | 9.6 |
| 1974 | 16 | #2,501 | 10.2 |
| 1973 | 9 | #3,549 | 5.8 |
| 1972 | 15 | #2,474 | 9.3 |
| 1971 | 12 | #2,879 | 6.8 |
| 1970 | 19 | #2,087 | 10.2 |
| 1969 | 22 | #1,784 | 12.3 |
| 1968 | 15 | #2,143 | 8.6 |
| 1967 | 8 | #3,095 | 4.6 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,360 | 3.9 |
| 1965 | 14 | #2,215 | 7.5 |
| 1964 | 15 | #2,154 | 7.5 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,167 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,304 | 2.4 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,785 | 4.7 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,192 | 3.8 |
| 1957 | 5 | #4,235 | 2.3 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,181 | 2.4 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,596 | 3.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Iain a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Iain has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 69 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Iain: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Iain, and how old are they?
2,810 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 2,911 Americans ever recorded as Iain. The median Iain alive today is 24 years old; half are between 17 and 33.
The 2020 Census counted 3,574 people named Iain (8 women and girls, 3,566 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,695 born in the U.S. The Census count is 33% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 47 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 212 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 648 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,430 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 468 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Iain born?
The states with the most babies named Iain are California, Texas and New York, with 64% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 323 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 156 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 86 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Virginia | 51 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Washington | 39 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 33 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Colorado | 24 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Massachusetts | 24 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 22 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Florida | 20 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Iain with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 263,141 babies since 1880, Iain is the second most given (1.1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 11 of their 4,024 babies (<1%), the fifth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Iain
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Iain and names like it
- Compare Iain and IanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sIain peaked in 2003.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Iain since 1910.
- Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Iain: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2003The year the most babies were named Iain.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Iain alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with IMost given first.