She’s a teen queen from the 1980s who made a throwback choice sound almost modern.
Thanks to JNE for suggesting Ione as Baby Name of the Day.
Born Ione Skye Leitch, the daughter of “Mellow Yellow” Donovan Leitch was unforgettable as the prim and proper valedictorian Diane in 1989’s Say Anything.
As you can see, my name is Ione, pronounced ‘eye-oh-nee’. I’ve never been sure about how I feel about my name, most people I meet say they love it, and it’s been awfully intriguing to read what you all think about the name with my connotations- well, myself. I can’t see the prettiness in it, it’s just my name, I see it bluntly and bland. Even when more popular and boring names can seem pretty to me, because of the people they are linked with in my mind. Yes, some people do do the ‘Lone’ thing. It’s silly. Lone Wolf, yeah, haha.
I have only met one other Ione in my life, and that is my mother’s old school friend which is where she originally found the name, I think.
I like the thought of the 80s throwback teen queen thing especially, maybe that could make me proud of my name.
Ione is a family name for us, Ione is my Mother, and also my daughter.
When my mother was very sick with cancer my father planted flower bulbs not
knowing if she would live to see them bloom. The next Spring my father helped her walk down through the front pasture and in the snow were bright yellow daffodils spelling out her name, I O N E. He loved her that much.
She has been gone 20+ years but her name proclaims Spring to us.
What a lovely story! Thanks for sharing. And how very nice that you’ve passed the name on to your daughter.
I do TRUTHFULLY that it’s a name that sounds very pretty…. but, there’s something about the pronunciation eye-OWN-ee that makes me imagine a toddler banging something & yelling ‘I OWN ee!” I do like the name & it would be utterly fabulous to meet someone with this name. While I do like it, it’s not one for me. I do like it’s mythical vibes, though
I knew an eye-OWN-ee growing up, though her parents spelled it Ionie, probably to avoid pronunciation problems. I think it’s a lovely name.
I find Ione particularly entrancing — possibly because I too love vowel-heavy names such as Imogen, Bronwen, and Una. (Bryony is beautiful, but after reading Atonement I could never use it). The only Ione I’ve ever met pronounces it “eye-OWN”. I don’t know which pronunciation I personally prefer, which would probably inhibit me from ever suggesting the name to my husband.
I like Ione, but it reminds me of my childhood-neighbor’s nanny, Iona. I thought she was Irish, but maybe she as Scottish? Anyways, it makes me think of a strict Catholic woman who carried a rosary everywhere and smelled of menthol cigarettes.
interestingly enough there is also an isle of skye off the coast of scotland too, so when i look at ione skye together it just screams scotland and all its lovely gaelic charm. i’m actually suprised this isn’t more popular with its greek and scottish roots. i wonder if it had been an irish rather than scottish ireland if it wouldn’t be more widely used
Nice post! To me, Ione has always seemed like a feminine form or John or Jon.
Thanks for covering Ione!
This is one of the first names I remember liking when I found my mother’s baby naming book back in elementary school. I also went for the rather more elaborate Anemone. I liked that OH-nee ending I guess (I remember the book mentioned that Ione was eye-OH-nee and that it was from Greek). I also went for Isaac on the boy’s side. Funny how I still like vowel names and lean heavily on I names (Imogen, Isadora, Isaac, and Ivy were all on the naming lists for real consideration when having my kids).
Ione makes me think of the 80s, but not because of the actress from Say Anything (although that movie is awesome), but because of ‘discovering’ names and all the really interesting ones I’d never heard. The book had a pronunciation guide for the names and I can remember sitting and saying them out to hear the sounds… I think I enjoyed the intense vowelliness of Ione and was intrigued by a name that could be so vowel-ridden. (Anemone was equally fun as the mouth trips over the n-m-n combo). But, I’ll admit, I don’t think I’d have the confidence to name my kid either of those names. That said, Ione might be more wearable than I’m giving credit for. My only other hesitation? In typeface without crossed Is (like this one) Ione and lone look almost the same.
I think Ione is darling. I don’t know why, maybe because of sonority, but she reminds me of names like Bryony and Fiona. Very pretty choice!