Persian People

The Persian people are Iranian people who speak the modern Persian language and closely related Iranian dialects and languages.

The term Persian translates to "from Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire.

Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.

While a categorization of a "Persian" ethnic group persists in the West, Persians have generally been a pan-national group often comprising regional people who often refer to themselves as 'Persians' and have also often used the term "Iranian" (in the ethnic-cultural sense). As a pan-national group, defining Persians as an ethnic group, at least in terms used in the West, is not inclusive since the ethnonym "Persian" includes several Iranian people including the speakers of Modern Persian.

Some scholars, classify the speakers of Persian language as a single ethnic unit (the ‘Persians’) and exclude those Iranians who speak dialects of Persian, or other Iranian dialects closely related to Persian; however this approach to ethnicity in Iran is erroneous, since the designation Iranian (Irani) as an ethnic term has been used by all these ethnic group in Iran, including the "Persians" irrespective of their origin, language and religion.

And some scholars, mechanically identifying the speakers of Persian as a distinct ethnic unit (the ‘Persians’), exclude those Iranians who speak dialects of Persian. However, this approach can be misleading, as historically all ethnic groups in Iran were collectively referred to as Iranians or Persians until 1935, when Reza Shah formally required foreign countries to call Persia by its native name, Iran.

The term Persia was adopted by all western languages through the Greeks and was used as an official name for Iran by the West until 1935. Due to that label, all Iranians were considered Persian. People who embraced the Persian language and culture are also often referred as Persian (as a part of the Persian civilization culturally and/or linguistically).

Some famous Iranians:

Pierre Morad Omidyar: is a French-born Iranian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of the eBay auction site

Christiane Amanpour: CBE is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief International Correspondent for CNN and host of CNN International's nightly interview program Amanpour. Amanpour is also a Global Affairs Anchor of ABC News.

Shohreh Aghdashloo: is an Iranian-American actress. Her performance in House of Sand and Fog (2003) brought her several film critics' awards and a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Jamshid "Jimmy" Delshad: is an Iranian-American politician in the state of California. He became Mayor of Beverly Hills and is the first Iranian-American to hold public office in Beverly Hills.

Gholam A. Peyman: MD recipient of National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement. His most widely known invention to date is LASIK eye surgery, a vision correction procedure designed to allow people to see clearly without glasses.

Andre Kirk Agassi: is an Iranian-American retired professional tennis player and former World No. 1, who was one of the game's most dominant players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

And many more…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iranians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iranian_Americans