Fiona
Pronunciation/fiˈoʊnə/ fee-OH-nə
GenderFeminine
Language(s)English
Origin
Language(s)Gaelic
Derivationfionn
Meaning"white", "fair"
Region of originIreland and Scotland
Other names
Related namesFionnghal, Fíona

Fiona is a feminine given name of Gaelic origin. The name is associated with the Gaelic traditions of Ireland and Scotland (through the poetry of James Macpherson), but has also become popular in England.[1] It can be considered either a Latinised form of the Gaelic word fionn, meaning "white", "fair",[1] or an Anglicisation of the Irish name Fíona (derived from an element meaning "vine").[2] The Scottish Gaelic feminine name Fionnghal (and variants) is sometimes equated with Fiona.[3] In ninth-century Welsh and Breton language 'Fion' (today: 'ffion') referred to the foxglove species and is also a female given name as in Ffion Hague.[4]

Fiona was the 49th most popular name for baby girls born in 2008 in Germany.[5] Fiona was tied for third place in the ranking of most popular names for baby girls born in Liechtenstein in 2008.[6] The name was the 347th most popular name for girls born in the United States in 2008, where it has ranked among the top 1,000 most popular names for girls since 1990 and among the top 500 since 1999.[7] The name Fiona has been particularly popular for girls of Asian or Pacific Islander descent in New York City, where Fiona ranked as the ninth most popular name for girls from those groups in 2007.[8]

Notable people with this name

Fictional characters

Other

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, pp. 99–100, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1.
  2. ^ Hanks, Hardcastle & Hodges 2006, pp. 348–349.
  3. ^ Mark, Colin (2003). The Gaelic-English Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 0-203-27706-6.
  4. ^ The University of Wales' Dictionary website; accessed 21 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Die beliebtesten Vornamen des Jahres 2008". www.beliebte-vornamen.de.
  6. ^ "LLV". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  7. ^ OACT. "Popular Baby Names". www.ssa.gov.
  8. ^ "After More than a Decade, a Shift in the #1 New York City Baby Names". Archived from the original on 2010-02-09. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
Categories