Fionna
Feminine · “fair”
Fiona is one of the few names that can be traced to a book rather than a language. It appears in the eighteenth-century Ossian poems, a Scottish literary sensation that turned out to be largely invented, and it became a genuine name afterward. A century later a Scottish writer published his best work under the name Fiona Macleod and let everyone believe she was real. Fionna doubles the n.
How old is the name Fionna?
Fionna first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Fionna alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 700 people named Fionna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fionna most popular?
Fionna peaked in 2012, reaching #3782 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 9,426 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From fionn to Fionna
The story of Fionna
James Macpherson published the Ossian poems in the 1760s as translations from ancient Gaelic; they were enormously influential across Europe and mostly his own work. The name Fiona comes out of that world. It was made a real name by William Sharp, a Scottish writer who from the 1890s published poems and stories as Fiona Macleod, maintained the fiction for a decade, and was only revealed after his death. The name became genuinely popular in Scotland in the twentieth century and traveled from there. The doubled n is an American variation and changes nothing audible.
Meaning
fair, white
From the Irish and Scottish Gaelic fionn, meaning fair, white or bright — the element that opens Fionn mac Cumhaill, the hero of the Fenian cycle, whose name is essentially the adjective on its own. The feminine formed from it is a literary construction rather than a traditional Gaelic name, but the element itself is entirely genuine.
How the name formed
- fionn
- Fiona
- Fionna
Related forms: Fíona · Fionnghal · Gwen
Pronouncing Fionna
fee-OH-nuh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. The doubled n makes no difference to the sound; Fiona and Fionna are said identically in American English.
Nicknames for Fionna
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
- 1971
- Most girls named
- 201241 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3782reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −45.5%6 in 2025, from 11
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.
Fionna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fíona in Irish — same name
- Fionnghal in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Gwen in Welsh — related form
Fionnas among us
people named Fionna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Fionna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Fionna
- #13208
- Fionna on the 2025 chart
- #429
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Fionna went to 6 girls in 2025, but Fiona is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 660, which makes it the 429th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,779 places above the chart.
- Fiona654
- Fionna6
About 1 girl in 2,435 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Fionna itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Elecia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fionna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elecia climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elecia's path sketches the road Fionna is walking now.
Fionna 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
Fionna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fionna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Gaelic element behind it is genuine and widely used across Irish and Scottish naming.
- Fi works immediately as a short form and needs no explanation.
- Three open syllables that sit well after almost any surname.
- It has an unusually good story attached — two literary hoaxes and a real name at the end.
- Fiona is much the commoner spelling and will be substituted on nearly everything.
- The doubled n is inaudible, so the letters have to be given every time.
- For younger Americans the name is strongly attached to an animated ogre, which is affectionate but unavoidable.
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What they receive
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Fionna
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fionnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Fionna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Fionna?
- Fionna is one of 2 recorded spellings. Fiona is the more common one — 654 births in 2025 against 6 for Fionna.
- How popular is the name Fionna in 2025?
- Fionna ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fionna?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Fionna — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fionna with classmates?
- Fionna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fionna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fionna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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