Iona

Where Iona comes from

Probably a misreading of Latin Ioua, an attempt to Latinize Old Irish Í.
— Wiktionary's entry for Iona
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #388 among girls — 18 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1896
    Iona Yakir born
    Soviet military commander
  3. 1918
    Peak, #317
    404 babies named Iona — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1932
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #474.
  5. 1941
    Iona Brown born
    British violinist and conductor
In the dictionary
  • A female given name transferred from the place name, of mostly Scottish usage.
Namesakes
  • Iona Yakir · Soviet military commander, 1896–1937
  • Iona Brown · British violinist and conductor, 1941–2004
  • Iona Anderson · Australian swimmer, born 2005
  • Iona Moir · British track cyclist, born 2003
  • Iona Campagnolo · Canadian politician, 1932–2024

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.