The baby name Fiona blends literary roots with an appealing sound for a name that hits the sweet spot – stylish, current, but not too common.
Thanks to Melissa for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
LITERARY INVENTION
Back in the eighteenth century, the Scottish writer James Macpherson claimed he’d discovered and interpreted a collection of old legends.
He created a wildly popular series of writings, starting with Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Gaelic or Erse language.
Despite the ring of authenticity, evidence suggests that Macpherson invented pretty much, well, most of it.
Debates about the stories’ origins raged, even as Macpherson’s work became an international sensation, widely read and translated into many European languages.
One of his likely inventions? The baby name Fiona.
FINN’S SISTER
Macpherson built on existing lore, borrowing Irish hero Finn McCool. Finn comes from the word fionn – fair.
That makes the baby name Fiona a feminine form of Finn.
It joins older names. Irish myth gives us Fionnuala -“white shoulder.” We usually Anglicize it as Finola or Fenella, but it’s a sister to Finn, too.
So even if Macpherson was the first to use this exact name, it seems fair to call the baby name Fiona Irish. Or at least Irishish.
BRIGADOON to BOND GIRL
Despite the success of Macpherson’s writings, the baby name Fiona didn’t catch on.
A few surface in the US Census records. But it’s not until 1942 that Fiona debuts in the US Social Security Administration data set, with nine births.
It took until 1990 for the name to make the US Top 1000.
What happened along the way?
First, musical Brigadoon gave the name to a resident of a mysterious, unchanging Scottish village that appears to outsiders for only one day every century. Two visitors from New York stumble upon the village, and set events in motion. The musical debuted in 1947, with a film adaptation ten years later, and a television movie in the 1960s.
In 1965’s Thunderball, James Bond faced a glamorous assassin named Fiona Volpe. Things end badly for Volpe, though there’s a tiny uptick in the name’s use in the US during 1966 and 1967.
Then came Colleen McCullough’s bestselling novel, The Thorn Birds. A family drama spanning the 1910s to the 1960s, Fiona “Fee” Cleary is the mother of the main character. The novel was published in 1977, and a smash hit television miniseries followed in 1983.
Like Thunderball, The Thorn Birds gave the baby name Fiona a tiny bump – but not enough to take it mainstream.
THE GIVER and SHREK
By the 1990s, however, the baby name Fiona was on the rise.
It’s one of the ahead-of-curve character names in Lois Lowry’s celebrated 1993 young adult novel The Giver. (There’s also an Asher.)
1994 British romcom Four Weddings and a Funeral includes an aristocratic Fiona. That tracks – the name was long more popular in the UK than the US.
Singer Fiona Apple burst on to the scene around the same time, earning a Grammy in 1998 for her first hit song, “Criminal.”
Then came 2001’s Shrek.
Like any respectable fairytale, there’s a princess, voiced by Cameron Diaz.
But this one had a secret: by night, she turned into an ogre.
Only true love’s kiss can restore her permanently to her true form. When she marries the ogre Shrek, it turns out that she’s meant to be an ogress. She goes green full-time and they live happily ever after.
Or, at least as happily as the continuing Shrek saga will permit.
BY the NUMBERS
The baby name Fiona debuted in the US Top 1000 in the year 1990, at #941.
Fiona Apple probably deserves credit for the name’s first big rise. By 1998, the year Apple collected her Grammy, the name ranked #520.
But Shrek is part of the equation, too. In 2001, the baby name Fiona ranked #414.
By 2010, when the fourth feature film installment, Shrek Forever After, was released, the name had reached #258.
Showtime series Shameless gave us Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher for nine seasons. (An eleventh – and final season – ended in 2021, but Rossum’s character moved on earlier.)
The hit series debuted in 2011. By 2017, the baby name Fiona peaked at #180.
Pop culture references come and go, while the baby name Fiona continues to quietly appeal. For most of the twenty-first century, the name ranges in popularity from the upper 100s to the lower 300s.
As of 2020, it ranked #296.
SWEET SPOT NAME
That makes the baby name Fiona a perfect sweet spot name.
Everybody recognizes it, but it’s far from overused, a great alternative to perpetual favorite Sophia.
It feels vaguely Irish or English, and it brings to mind all sorts of pop culture references, but it’s tough to pigeon hole.
The name carries plenty of contradictions: it’s an unconventional princess name, one borrowed from myth and legend, but also something of an invention.
Overall, the baby name Fiona could be a great choice for parents after something traditional with just the tiniest bit of an edge. Fiona sounds fearless, a strong name with plenty of twenty-first century energy and just enough history to anchor it in the past, too.
What do you think of the baby name Fiona?
First published on January 25, 2012, this post was revised substantially and re-posted on September 5, 2018 and again on September 11, 2021.
I’m a Fiona (born 1982). I really love my name.
So glad to hear!
So we named our little girl born in March Fiona Scout. For those worried about nickname options- my son Hugo couldn’t pronounce her name so called her : “Finona,” which has led to her pet name “Nona.” Not something I could have planned but it’s sweet 🙂
My 3 year old sister couldn’t say Fiona when I was born , so I was Nonie ( still am 😉
We call our Fiona both Nona and Noni as nicknames too 🙂
I would love a revamp of this one 🙂
We’re having our second in October, and she’ll be Fiona Margaret, little sister to James Kenneth. We had previously settled in on Daphne Margaret, but she told me and Grammy her name was Fiona. Sounds super hippie dippy, but I can’t describe it any other way. I had a lightning bolt moment at work, and Grammy had dreams two nights in a row that I was having a girl and her name was Fiona. I knew it was a sign, and she wasn’t meant to be anything else but Fiona.
Sometimes you just know … y’know? And Fiona is great!
Fiona has been one of my favorite names since I was 2 or 3 and was obsessed with the movie The Secret of Roan Inish, which features a Fiona (and a little brother Jamie, what a coincidence given the new celebrity twins!).
I just read a story on people.com about a new twinset with a Fiona:
http://celebritybabies.people.com/2012/01/25/community-danny-pudi-welcomes-twins-james-and-fiona/
I’m glad someone else posted this. The second I saw that baby announcement I was like wow how did Abby know?
Also, Im not totally sure how to do a request for a name of the day but is it possible to suggest the name Graham?
Ha! My three year old is James, and my five week old is Fiona. Never heard of this celebrity, though.
This has seriously been my favorite girl name since I was about 12 years old (16 years ago!) and had a Scottish penpal named Fiona. To me it seems more Scottish than Irish, but since my heritage is Irish and my husband’s is mostly Scottish, it works either way:-). I know a little Filipino toddler named Fiona, and she pulls it off beautifully. I also remember seeing that it ranked in or near the top 10 for Asian-Americans in New York, so it can definitely be multicultural.
I’m a little bummed that it is rising so quickly on the charts, but this is the one name that I love so much that I just don’t care. I’d still use it for a daughter even if she broke the top 100.
Fiona Bruce is a news presenter here in the UK, and my first thought when I hear the name. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because she’s good at what she does. Personally, I doubt I’d ever consider the name, but that’s more because there are plenty of other F- names I love more than her.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that – unfortunately – I could never use it, despite my love for the name. It is indeed very international, but I have realized that international names can sound very different pronounced in different languages. Fiona is amazing in British/Scottish/Welsh/Irish, is not butchered by the American pronunciation (while other British/Celtic/Gaelic names are) and is even very pretty in Spanish and in Italian (gives an exotic touch, just like names like Astrid or Freya). However, the huge problem is that in French there is this argotic word, “Fion”, meaning “a***hole”. Even though it’s not very much used anymore, Fiona still sounds like “A***hol-a” in the mind of most French people. Being French, despite of my living in English-speaking countries, it disturbs me.
I’m not sure how recent these stats are, but Baby Name Wizard has Fiona at number 415 in Quebec, and Behind The Name has it at 396 in France. So it is being used by French speakers, if not overwhelmingly so.
It is used – that’s not the problem. I have known French Fionas who are told this tacky pun several times a week/month. Basically out of every two new people they meet, one says that (and they suspect that those who don’t think it). Of course, people get used to it and it doesn’t matter so much, but it’s still pretty appalling to me. Imagine meeting a Shitelle or something – of course it’s not the same thing because everybody knows Fiona is a real name, but still.
This was suggested to us as a possibility for one of our twins’ names. It left me cold then and it hasn’t grown on me since. Irish names and ogre names just aren’t our style.
I forgot there was a Fiona in The Giver; Ms. Lowry was certainly ahead of the name-curve. I love Fiona – it sounds (to me) fresh and vibrant. I do first think Thorn Birds and Apple before ogre, although yes, Princess Fiona was certainly an admirable character. The actor Diego Luna has a little Fiona.
My daughter is named Fiona. I’m confident I picked the right name for my daughter, but it isn’t as different as I thought. A couple of years after she was born (she’s almost 5), I would see the name climb the charts and I would cringe because I wanted my daughter’s name to be different like everyone else (silly, I know) but now I just shrug it off and embrace that at least we picked the name on the upswing.
I like names that are either old and sound modern (like Ione) or modern and sound old. Fiona fits the modern but sounds old requirement.
I like the idea of Effie for a nickname. I love Effie, but never thought it would be a suitable nickname for Fiona. However, I picked Fiona thinking it didn’t have any nicknames (Fifi is a dog’s name in my mind). Now I know I was wrong. So far my daughter goes by Fiona.
As far as the heritage goes, I’m a northern European WASP mutt, most predominately German, (my parents say we are “American”). Apparently, I have some dubious Irish/Scottish heritage that even if I could confirm, is surely watered down. My family has been in America for at least 7 or 8 generations. The drops of blood aren’t even worth counting. My husband is half French Canadian (his great, great grandfather was a Native American) and Italian. Our last name is Italian.
We felt using Fiona was fine with our heritage. With its similar sound to Sophia, which most people consider multicultural, I think the name can fit any culture.
I agree with you that Fiona can fit in any culture. It’s the main reason I love it. I am of Spanish descent while my husband is half Irish and Italian. We have an Italian last name as well and I always thought that Fiona would be a name that would work nicely with our blended heritage. It’s a beautiful name and, of course, I was a huge Fiona Apple fan in college so that doesn’t hurt either.
Emmy Rossum plays Fiona Gallagher on Showtime’s Shameless. Other Gallagher family members are Liam, Lip (I think it’s short for Phillip), Debbie, Frank, and Ian.
I’ve just recently realized that I adore Fiona. I do wish it weren’t so popular.
It is nice but doesn’t do anything for me personally. Maybe because it does seem very Irish(ish), which isn’t my style. I much prefer Phoebe and Leona. I’ll never forget when my daughter was in the NICU almost two years ago, out of the six babies in her little section, two of them were Fiona. You could tell the moms were taken aback.
I love all three of those names, though Leona wasn’t on my radar when I was pregnant.
I love Os apparently. Whether pronounced or not (though I hate it when people get lazy about it. I far prefer Elle-uh-NOR to ELLE-uh-ner).
Fiona used to be way too frou-frou for me… and then a college friend convinced me to watch “Burn Notice” – fun they way certain characters (or people you know) can completely bend and warp a name. (Shrek’s Fiona just didn’t move the dial for me for some reason.) It has grown on me quite a bit and I love Fifi, Fee, and even Effie as possible nns. Those uber-girly nns no longer seem like puffy pink fluff on top of a sparkly pink name – they seem to balance it: strong full name with feminine nns – (the way I like my names and nns). As for the Irish heritage – I’ve got zip, but I’d still use this one. Maybe it’s that it is a bit pop culture, or that it doesn’t have the difficult to guess pronunciation based on the spelling that sets it apart, but if I had any doubts the semi-inventedness (yes, I just made a word up) of the name would put me over the “free to use it” edge.
I love how certain characters totally change our perceptions of names! Before watching “Justified”, I would’ve pegged the name Raylan as a nouveau -ayden/aylee/aylan downmarket kind of name. Now Raylan is all lawman cowboy sexy cool and I picture Timothy Olyphant in his cowboy boots and hat 🙂
Fiona is on my short list of names if I have a future DD (with some likely Irish and/or Scottish heritage it would fit ethnically). I had thought about suggesting it as a NOTD, but I didn’t know if that article you wrote way back when counted or not.
Im always pushing for Irish/Scottish/Gaelic names whenever names come up with the boy. He keeps nixing Padraig, but whatever.
I like Fiona and Finola, but Fionn is probably my favorite. Fiona is actually more princess-y to me than strong! But a good Irish middle like Maeve might temper it.
I have loved Fiona since Four Weddings and a Funeral. Kristin Scott Thomas is a wonderful actress and her character was so loveable (I wanted Hugh to love HER, not Andie!). I just really loved the way he called her ”Fifi”. It was adorable.
There’s something about that long O, coupled with the fact that that’s the accented syllable that puts me off a touch. I think there are prettier Irish names out there. If I ever need one, all I have to Sonia open a Maeve Binchu book…
*Binchy
The long O emphasized is what puts me off this name as well.
Another Fiona pop culture reference is the main character named Fiona in both the BBC & American versions of the TV show Shameless. It has quickly become one of my new favorites (the show, not the name).
Fiona “Fee” was the mother’s name in the mini series The Thorn Birds. Out of curiosity I looked up Fiona Apple’s DOB… 1977 the same year as Colleen McCullough’s novel.
I like Fiona, but I don’t have the heritage to pull it off. (Of course that hasn’t stopped most of the parents of Connors or Liams.)
I personally think that Fiona’s become pop culture (via Shrek) enough to be wearable no matter what your heritage. It’s pretty, but it’s not my favourite Irish name by a long shot.
Incidentally, although my married last name is Irish (and the first name Patrick is a family name on my husband’s side), I still don’t feel that we have enough Irish heritage to pull off Irish names such as, say, the lovely Siobhan.
I agree with Charlotte – I definitely wouldn’t assume an Irish heritage if I met a little Fiona. I think it doesn’t feel “too Irish” also because, as dreadedjaws pointed out, it’s easy to spell and pronounce.