Iona (name)

Iona is a unisex^[1] name that is taken from the Scottish island of Iona,^[2][3] which has a particular significance in the history of Christianity. The derivation of this island name itself is uncertain. The earliest forms of the name enabled place-name scholar William J. Watson to state that the name originally meant something like "yew-place".^[4] However, other suggestions such as an Norse origin from Hiōe meaning "island of the den of the brown bear"^[5] have also been made. Other possibly meanings are "Violet" from the English name Ione, or simply Island, from Norse ey.

Iona is also the Russian form of the male name Jonah.

Notes

1. ""Iona"". babynamesworld. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
2. ""Iona"". Baby Name Wizard. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
3. ""Iona"". Baby Names World. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
4. Watson (1926) pp. 87–90
5. Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 80

References

• Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
• Watson, W.J. (1926) The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland. Reprinted with an introduction by Simon Taylor. Birlinn: Edinburgh, 2004. ISBN 1-84158-323-5