Who are the most famous Iranians?

Ask An Iranian

There are many lists of top famous Iranians available online, but we decided to tackle this matter differently. In this episode, we help you learn about well known Iranians by playing the 'Name Game'. To do this, we describe the famous Iranians, as if we are them. So listen in and play along!

Questions we also answer in this episode

• Who are the most famous contemporary Iranians?
• What are the names of some of the famous historical Iranians?
• Who are the most famous Iranian women?
• Which singer is the most well known Iranian singer, ever?
• Who is the most famous Iranian poet to have ever lived?
• What percentage of the Iranian government wear shiny suits?

How famous are famous Iranians?

We have one of our listeners, Olga, to thank for the inspiration for this episode. She asked us, "who are the most famous Iranians?". Naturally, any answers to this question will be subjective, but for brevity, we've highlighted a selection of famous Iranians in the show.

Famous Iranians mentioned in the show

• Shirin Ebadi (1947-present) — female, Iranian lawyer
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956-present) — male, former president of Iran
• Bijan Pakzad (1940-2011) — male, Iranian fashion designer
• NIMANY by Nima Behnoud (1976-present) — brand, fashion
• Marjane Satrapi (1969-present) — female, director and graphic novelist
• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, "Shah" (1919-1980) — male, last king of Iran
• Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) — male, film director
• Asghar Farhadi (1972-present) — male, film director
• Golshifteh Farahani (1983-present) — female, actress
• Shohreh Aghdashloo (1952-present) — female, Iranian actress
• Ali Daei (1969-present) — male, international footballer, national coach
• Rumi (1207-1273) — male, Iranian poet
• Googoosh (1950-present) — female, Iranian singer
• Hayedeh (1942-1990) — female, Iranian singer
• Mahasti (1946-2007) — female, Iranian singer
• Hafez (1315-1390) — male, Iranian poet

Which Iranians have we missed?

We'd like to put it to our audience, who are your top three famous people from Iran? Let us know in the comments below, or head over to our Twitter page to respond in the comments and start a debate.

Persian words used during the show

PersianEnglish translationsTabrizi:From the Iranian region of Tabriz, in the North West of IranHaft seen:"Seven S's", the name for the Iranian new year spreadBarbari:A type of Iranian flatbreadNorouz:The word for the Iranian New Year (occurring on the spring equinox)

Music credits: www.bensound.com, composer: Benjamin Tissot