Ian- John- Sean

[figheadair]

Ok, so I know Sean and Ian are the Irish and Scottish versions of John. Sean is easily seen why, but Ian I can't figure out how it has derived from John.

The Scottish (Gaelic) version is actually Iain which seems to have been used historically as an alternative spelling to Eoin which are Anglicised as 'Ian' and 'Euan' or 'Ewan' repectively.

Found this on-line regarding the name John:

English form of Iohannes, the Latin form of the Greek name Ιωαννης (Ioannes), itself derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan) meaning "YAHWEH is gracious". This name owes its popularity to two New Testament characters, both highly revered saints. The first was John the Baptist, a Jewish ascetic who was considered the forerunner of Jesus Christ. The second was the apostle John, who was also traditionally regarded as the author of the fourth Gospel and Revelation.

Greek form of Yochanan (see JOHN).

VARIANTS: Ioannis, Yannis, Yiannis, Yanni, Yianni (Greek)

FEMININE FORMS: Ioanna (Greek), Ioanna (Biblical Greek)

OTHER LANGUAGES: Gjon (Albanian), Yahya (Arabic), Hovhannes (Armenian), Jon, Ion, Ganix (Basque), John (Biblical), Yehochanan, Yochanan (Biblical Hebrew), Iohannes (Biblical Latin), Yann (Breton), Ioan, Yoan, Yan, Ivan (Bulgarian), Joan (Catalan), Jowan (Cornish), Ghjuvan (Corsican), Ivan (Croatian), Johan, Jan, Ivan (Czech), Jens (Danish), Johannes, Johan, Jan (Dutch), John, Shawn, Shaun, Shane, Sean, Evan, Ian, Ivan, Shayne, Jon (English), Johano (Esperanto), Juhan, Johannes, Jaan (Estonian), Juhani, Juhana, Jouni, Joni, Johannes, Janne, Jani (Finnish), Yann, Jean (French), Xoán (Galician), Johannes, Johann, Johan, Jan (German), Keoni (Hawaiian), Yochanan (Hebrew), János (Hungarian), Jón, Jóhannes, Jóhann (Icelandic), Shane, Sean, Seán, Eoin (Irish), Giovanni (Italian), Johannes, Joannes (Late Roman), Jānis (Latvian), Sjeng, Sjang (Limburgish), Jonas (Lithuanian), Jovan, Ivan (Macedonian), Juan, Ean (Manx), Jan, Hann (Medieval English), Jehan (Medieval French), Jens (Norwegian), Janusz, Jan, Iwan (Polish), João (Portuguese), Ion, Ioan (Romanian), Ivan, Ioann (Russian), Jon, Johannes, Johan, Jan (Scandinavian), Ian, Iain, Eoin (Scottish), Jovan, Ivan (Serbian), Ján (Slovak), Žan, Janez, Jan, Ivan, Anže (Slovene), Xuan, Juan, Iván (Spanish), Jens (Swedish), Yahya (Turkish), Ivan (Ukrainian), Siôn, Iwan, Ioan, Ifan, Iefan, Evan, Ieuan (Welsh)

By 'Irish' the author is of course referring to Gaelic.