From Wiki:
"
Aryan" has its roots as a term used as a self-designation by
Indo-Iranian people. The term was used by the
Indo-Aryan people of the
Vedic period in
Ancient India as an ethnic label for themselves and later refer to the noble class as well as the geographic region known as
Āryāvarta, where
Indo-Aryan culture is based (in this region). The
Iranian people used the term as an ethnic label for themselves in the
Avesta scriptures, and the word forms the
etymological source of the country name
Iran. It was believed in the 19th century that Aryan was also a self-designation used by all
Proto-Indo-Europeans, a theory that has now been abandoned. Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial.