Fiona
Feminine · Gaelic roots · “fair”
Fiona is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 33,959 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Fiona reached print through Scottish literature rather than an old parish register: the Victorian writer William Sharp published his romances under the pen name Fiona Macleod, and the name went out into the world from there. Behind it sits the Gaelic word fionn, 'fair', the same element in the hero-name Fionn. Three syllables that open in the middle — fee-OH-nuh — and it needs no explaining in English, German or Italian.
How old is the name Fiona?
Fiona first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Fiona alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 33,500 people named Fiona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fiona most popular?
Fiona peaked in 2017, reaching #180 nationally. Today it ranks #470, 290 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Fiona appears on these lists:
- 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
Works in Irish families too:
Where it comes from
From fionn (Gaelic, 'fair') to Fiona
The story of Fiona
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. Scotland took it up through the twentieth century, then England, then the wider English-speaking world, and it crossed into German, Dutch and Italian use with its spelling intact. In the United States it has been quietly on the books since the middle of the last century, gaining ground after the Shrek films gave the name a princess.
Meaning
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.
How the name formed
- fionnGaelic, 'fair'
- Fionn
- Fiona
Related forms: Fiona · Fiona · Fiona · Fíona · Fionnuala · Fionnghuala
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Fiona
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 20171,683 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #180reached in 2017
- Change vs 2023
- −14.7%654 in 2025, from 767
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Fiona in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fiona in German — same name
- Fiona in Dutch — same name
- Fiona in Italian — same name
- Fíona in Irish — spelling variant
- Fionnuala in Irish — related form
- Fionnghuala in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Pennsylvania.
Fionas among us
people named Fiona are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,458 born in 2025 was named Fiona
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sonja test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fiona's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sonja climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sonja's path sketches the road Fiona is walking now.
Fiona sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Fiona is headed
Fiona is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Fiona beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fiona in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- Unambiguously a girl's name in English-language use, with no competing masculine road to the same spelling.
- Familiar without being crowded — a Fiona is unlikely to share her name in a classroom.
- 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.
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What they receive
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Fiona
Feminine · Gaelic roots · #470 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fionas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 33,500 people named Fiona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fiona in 2025?
- Fiona ranks #470 among US girl names in 2025, with 654 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fiona?
- About 1 in every 2,458 US girls born in 2025 was named Fiona — 654 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fiona with classmates?
- Fiona will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fiona
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maren#470 · Jaylani#470 · Meredith#469 · Daniella#468 · Monroe#467 · Felicity#473 · Gracelyn#466 · Alexandria#474
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fiona? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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