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The term Iranians can refer to:

• inhabitants or citizens of the modern nation of Iran,
• a historical grouping of peoples speaking Indo-Iranian languages and inhabiting a part of Asia on and near the Iranian plateau, which include the Medes and the Persians
• a synonym for the term Aryans, referring to the hypothesized ethnic group to which the first speakers of Indo-European languages belonged.

The term Iranian ( Persian: ایرانیان) is etymologically descended from the term Aryan ( Persian: آریان), resulting from a shift in pronunciation of the latter.

The name Iran has as its original meaning "land of the Aryans", where the root ar- is derived from ancient Avestan, meaning noble. Similar cognates exist in other Indo-European languages.

The Iranian peoples of prehistory are generally believed to be ancestors of the contemporary Iranians, northern Indians (partly), northern and western Afghans, the Tajikis, the Uzbeks (partly), Azerbaijanis, Ossetians, KurdsThe Kurds are an ethnic group of Iranian origin (itself a branch of the larger Indo-European family), comprised of (according to some sources) about 25 million people, primarily in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria. There are also Kurdish communities in ex- U and Baluchis. There is also a hypothesis which links the South Slavic people with the Iranians through the AlansThe Alans or Alani were a nomadic group among the Sarmatian people, warlike nomadic pastoralists of mixed backgrounds, who spoke an Indo-Iranian language and shared, in a broad sense, a common culture. Early Alans The first mentions of names that historia.

In contemporary usage, the term Iranians refers to the people of the nation of Iran, which includes Persian, Azerbaijani, Baluch, Gilaki, Kurd, Lur, Mazandarani, Qashqai, Arab and Turkmen ethnic groups.