Head to head · Girls' names
Fiona vs Meredith
#470 vs #469 in 2025
Meredith is a whisker ahead (#469 vs #470 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Meredith is back after a long quiet spell, Fiona is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Meredith leads 6 measures of 6; Fiona leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1890s: Fiona —, Meredith #1426 — Meredith higher
- 1900s: Fiona —, Meredith #1400 — Meredith higher
- 1910s: Fiona —, Meredith #924 — Meredith higher
- 1920s: Fiona —, Meredith #770 — Meredith higher
- 1930s: Fiona —, Meredith #607 — Meredith higher
- 1940s: Fiona #3640, Meredith #443 — Meredith higher
- 1950s: Fiona #4049, Meredith #539 — Meredith higher
- 1960s: Fiona #1850, Meredith #541 — Meredith higher
- 1970s: Fiona #1648, Meredith #178 — Meredith higher
- 1980s: Fiona #1411, Meredith #149 — Meredith higher
- 1990s: Fiona #764, Meredith #232 — Meredith higher
- 2000s: Fiona #362, Meredith #362
- 2010s: Fiona #223, Meredith #586 — Fiona higher
- 2020s: Fiona #371, Meredith #529 — Fiona higher
Meredith stood higher in 11 of 13 decades; Fiona has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Fiona | Meredith |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | — | #1426 |
| 1900s | — | #1400 |
| 1910s | — | #924 |
| 1920s | — | #770 |
| 1930s | — | #607 |
| 1940s | #3640 | #443 |
| 1950s | #4049 | #539 |
| 1960s | #1850 | #541 |
| 1970s | #1648 | #178 |
| 1980s | #1411 | #149 |
| 1990s | #764 | #232 |
| 2000s | #362 | #362 |
| 2010s | #223 | #586 |
| 2020s | #371 | #529 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Fiona
fair, white
The root is the Gaelic fionn, 'fair' or 'white'. Fiona itself is a Latinate feminine built on that word rather than a name found in medieval Gaelic records — the meaning is agreed on, the coinage is comparatively recent.
fionn (Gaelic, 'fair') → Fionn → Fiona
How it traveled
Gaelic fionn, 'fair', is one of the old workhorse elements of Irish and Scottish naming, carried by Fionn mac Cumhaill of legend and by names like Fionnghuala. Fiona is the Latinate feminine grown from it, appearing in Scottish literary circles in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the writer William Sharp used Fiona Macleod as his pen name in the 1890s, which put it in front of a large reading public.
Meredith
Not established
The second element is generally read as iudd, a lord, which is well attested in Welsh names. The first is not agreed: proposals include a word for great or splendor, and none is demonstrated. Great lord is the usual gloss and it is a reconstruction of half a name. Meredith is the English spelling of Maredudd, and the surname form is Meredydd or Bedward in various renderings; the given name in English use descends from the surname.
Maredudd → Meredydd → Meredith
How it traveled
A men's name crosses to women by a fairly reliable route: it becomes a surname, the surname gets used as a first name for boys, it sounds soft enough to be given to a girl once, and once it is common for girls it stops being given to boys entirely. Meredith is a textbook case, and the crossing happened in America between the nineteen-twenties and the nineteen-fifties.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Fiona
fee-OH-nuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Almost never misread once seen written, and the spelling and the sound agree in every language that uses it.
- Fi — The standard short form in Britain, Ireland and Australia; informal, used by family and friends rather than on paperwork.
- Fifi — Affectionate and childhood-leaning; most Fionas outgrow it or never use it.
- Fee — A spelling of the same short form, occasionally written out in notes and messages.
Meredith
MAIR-uh-dith
MAIR-uh-dith, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced. Welsh Maredudd puts the weight on the middle syllable and ends in a sound English does not have, so the two versions are audibly different names.
- Merry — The front softened, which lands on an English word and is used knowingly.
- Edie — Built from the middle and the end, and a standing name of its own.
- Mer — The front clipped, short and used among friends rather than on paper.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Fiona if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsFiona is stepping back from its peak
Choose Meredith if you want…
- a name on the way upup 116 places on the charts in five years
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Fiona
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and already familiar to English speakers, so it rarely needs repeating or correcting.
- Travels unchanged into German, Dutch and Italian — the same spelling and roughly the same sound.
- Has a real, long-established short form in Fi, plus the option of using the full name at every age.
To consider
- Princess Fiona of the Shrek films is the reference many people reach for first, ogre transformation included. The jokes are mostly good-natured, but they exist.
- If Gaelic authenticity matters to your family, know that Fiona is a modern literary formation on a genuine Gaelic root — not a name borne in medieval Ireland or Scotland.
- It has been easing back from its high point rather than climbing, which means fewer namesakes in the same school year and a name that reads as established rather than new.
Meredith
Strengths
- It has a documented thousand-year history as a Welsh princely name.
- Merry, Mer and Edie are three short forms in three quite different registers.
- Three syllables with a firm front stress, which carries a short surname well.
To consider
- In Wales this is a man's name, and Welsh speakers will read it that way whatever an American form says.
- The meaning is only half recoverable, so any gloss offered is a reconstruction.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the last century in America.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Fiona and Meredith in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Fiona and Meredith?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names that begin and end with the same letter
- Irish names beyond St. Patrick's Day
- Scottish heritage names with highland spirit
- Celtic mythology names
- all guides
Where Fiona and Meredith each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Fiona or Meredith — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Fiona or Meredith?
- Meredith, in 2025: Meredith ranked #469 with 656 babies; Fiona ranked #470 with 654 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Fiona or Meredith?
- Meredith. Over the last five years Fiona moved down 176 places; Meredith moved up 116 places.
- Which is the older name, Fiona or Meredith?
- Fiona entered the US charts in 1942; Meredith entered the US charts in 1895. On the American record, Meredith is the older name.
- How many people are named Fiona and Meredith?
- About 33,500 people named Fiona are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 72,000 people named Meredith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Fionas or Merediths in the classroom?
- Fiona will almost certainly be the only one in school. Meredith will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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