Fiona
| Fiona | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /fiˈoʊnə/ fee-OH-nə |
| Gender | Feminine |
| Language(s) | English |
| Origin | |
| Language(s) | Gaelic |
| Derivation | fionn |
| Meaning | "white", "fair" |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Fionnghal, Fíona |
Fiona is a feminine given name. It was invented and first used by the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736–96), author of the Ossian poems which he claimed were translations from ancient Gaelic sources (sources which, when challenged, he never produced). The name was subsequently used as a pseudonym by William Sharp (1855–1905), who authored several romantic works under the name "Fiona Macleod". The name has since become popular in England, Scotland and Ireland.[1]
The name is considered to be a Latinised form of the Gaelic word fionn, meaning "white", "fair".[1] The name Fiona is also sometimes used as an Anglicisation of the Irish-language name Fíona, although these names are otherwise unrelated (as Fíona is derived from an element meaning "vine").[2] There is also a modern tendency to equate the authentic Scottish Gaelic feminine name Fionnghal with Fiona.[3]
The name Fiona is rising in popularity particularly in German-speaking countries. Fiona was the 49th most popular name for baby girls born in 2008 in Germany.[4] Fiona was tied for third place in the ranking of most popular names for baby girls born in the tiny principality of Liechtenstein in 2008.[5] The name was the 347th most popular name for girls born in the United States in 2008, where it has ranked among the top 1,000 most popular names for girls since 1990 and among the top 500 since 1999.[6] The name Fiona has been particularly popular for girls of Asian or Pacific Islander descent in New York City, where Fiona ranked as the ninth most popular name for girls from those groups in 2007.[7]
Real people with this name
- Fiona, singer, born Fiona Flanagan
- Fiona Apple, singer
- Fiona Bruce, BBC presenter
- Fiona Fairhurst, inventor of the Speedo Fastskin swimsuit
- Fiona Gubelmann, American actress
- Fiona Hammond, Australian water polo player
- Fiona Mackenzie, Scottish Gaelic Singer
- Fiona Mactaggart, British politician
- Fiona May, English-Italian athlete and actress
- Fiona Millar, British author and journalist
- Fiona O'Donnell, Scottish politician
- Fiona O'Driscoll, Irish camogie player
- Fiona O'Loughlin, Australian stand-up comedian
- Fiona O'Loughlin, Irish politician
- Fiona O'Malley, Irish politician
- Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Irish actor
- Fiona O'Sullivan, Irish footballer
- Fiona Phillips, British journalist and broadcaster
- Fiona Ritchie, American broadcaster
- Fiona Robinson, Australian basketball and handball player
- Fiona Shaw, Irish actress
- Fiona Sit, Hong Kong Cantonese singer
- Fiona Staples, Comic Book Artist
- Fiona Xie, Singaporean television actress
- Melanie Fiona Hallim, Canadian singer
- Kim Hill, New Zealand broadcaster also known as Fiona
Fictional characters
- Fiona Belli, protagonist in the game Haunting Ground
- Fiona Carter in the BBC show Spooks
- Fiona "Fee" Cleary, matriarch of the Cleary family in the novel and mini-series The Thorn Birds
- Fiona Conneely, main character in The Secret of Roan Inish
- Fiona Coyne in the Canadian television series Degrassi: The Next Generation
- Fiona Fennec, a character in the comic Kevin and Kell
- Fiona Flagstaff, character/spinosaurus in Dino Squad
- Fiona Fox in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic books by Archie Comics
- Fiona Gallagher in the television drama Shameless
- Fiona Glenanne in the television show Burn Notice
- Fiona Goode, character in American Horror Story: Coven
- Fiona Hackworth in the book The Diamond Age
- Fiona Kerr, a "notorious wet" in the novel The Passion Flower Hotel
- Fiona Elisi Linette in the anime series Zoids
- Fiona Maxwell, one of the main characters in Australian author John Marsden's 1993 novel Tomorrow, When the War Began
- Fiona Mayfield, a character in the video game series Arcana Heart
- Fiona McLaren, the main female character in the Broadway musical Brigadoon
- Fiona Volpe, an assassin in the film Thunderball
- Fiona Wallice (Dr. Fiona Wallice) in the television and web series Web Therapy
- Princess Fiona in the film Shrek and its sequels
- Princess Fiona, sorceress in the Chronicles of Amber novels
- Fiona and Charles, regular characters in Round the Horne
- Fiona in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Fiona, stepmother of Sam Montgomery in the 2004 film A Cinderella Story
- Fiona in the movie Eurotrip
- Fiona, main character in the television series So Weird
- Fiona in Lois Lowry's novel The Giver
- Fiona, main character in the film Josie and the Pussycats
- Fiona in Kid vs. Kat
- Fiona, a playable character in the Free-to-play game Vindictus
- Fiona Cat, Huckle Cat's mother from The Busy World of Richard Scarry
- Fionna the Human, the gender-swapped version of Finn the Human in the Adventure Time episode Fionna and Cake
- Fiona Pitch, aunt of Baz Grimm-Pitch in Rainbow Rowell's novel Carry On
See also
- List of Irish-language given names
- Tropical Storm Fiona - a 2010 Atlantic storm
- Fiona pinnata, marine mollusc, only member of the genus Fiona and family Fionidae
References
- 1 2 Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A dictionary of first names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, pp. 99–100, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1.
- ↑ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A dictionary of first names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, pp. 348–349, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1.
- ↑ Mark, Colin (2003). The Gaelic-English Dictionary (pdf). Routledge. ISBN 0-203-27706-6.
- ↑ http://www.beliebte-vornamen.de/2008
- ↑ http://www.llv.li/llv-as-publikationen-vornamen_neugeborenen.htm
- ↑ http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi
- ↑ http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pr2008/pr069-08.shtml