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Jan vs Ian - What's the difference?

jan | ian |

As proper nouns the difference between jan and ian

is that jan is abbreviation of January|lang=en while Ian is a given name derived from Scottish Gaelic.

As a noun jan

is obsolete form of lang=en.

jan

English

Proper noun

(en proper noun)
  • Etymology 1

    From (etyl)

    Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • (dated)
  • Etymology 2

    Shortened from (Janet) and (Janice).

    Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • A female nickname, sometimes used as a formal given name.
  • * 1899 Paul Leicester Ford: Janice Meredith : Chapter 1:
  • "Yes, Mommy," answered Janice. Then she turned to her friend and asked, "Shall I wear my light chintz and kenton kerchief, or my purple and white striped Persian?" "Sufficiently smart for a country lass, Jan ," cried her friend.
  • * 2008 , (Stephen King), Just After Sunset , Simon and Schuster (2009), ISBN 1416586652, page 129:
  • She's startled. How long has it been since he called her Jax instead of Janet or Jan ? The last is a nickname she secretly hates. It makes her think of that syrupy-sweet actress on Lassie when she was a kid, the little boy (Timmy, his name was Timmy) always fell down a well or got bitten by a snake or trapped under a rock, and what kind of parents put a kid's life in the hands of a fucking collie?

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl), (etyl), (etyl), (etyl), modern Scandinavian etc. Jan, from (etyl) .

    Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • A male given name, in English mostly applied to foreign language speakers.
  • English diminutives of female given names ----

    ian

    English

    Alternative forms

    * Iain

    Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • .
  • * 1975 , , World of Wonders , ISBN 0670817902, page 736
  • “If you want a Scotch name why don’t you call him Jock?” Macgregor looked disgusted. “Because Jock is not a name, but a diminutive, as everybody knows well. It is the diminutive of John. And John is not a Scots name. The Scots form of that name is Ian'. If you want to call him ' Ian Fetch, I shall say no more.”

    References

    * Concerning the names Iain, Ian, and Eoin by Josh Mittleman

    Anagrams

    * * *