Blog > Your Name in Elvish > Fiona in Elvish

Fiona in Elvish

Etymology of Fiona

Hi! My name is Fiona. My name is pretty darn cool! It’s a simple name – just the word for “White.” Some Latin-speakers slapped an -A at the end to make the masculine name Fionn into a feminine name. This word for “white” had come to be associated with hair and skin tone. My hair won’t be properly Fionn until I’m in my 70’s, judging by my grandparents’ hair. Let’s hope I make it to that age! (Please donate)

Quenya

Quenya has a variety of words for “White” with slightly different meanings. Fána is shining white like a cloud, Lossea is snow-white, and Ninque is pale because of the cold.

Let’s add a feminine name suffix to these adjectives, making: Fáne, Lossie, and Ninquie.

And masculine name suffixes because this is also sometimes a boy’s name, making: Fáno, Losseo, and Ninco.

These all work perfectly fine as characters’ names in your RP or fanfic, since Elven names are often as simple as Adjective+Name suffix.

Sindarin

Sindarin also has a variety of words for “white” with different connotations. Glân – bright white, Gloss – snow-white, and Nimp – pallid from the cold.

With a feminine name suffix: Glaneth, Glosseth, and Nimmeth.

With a masculine name suffix also: Glanor, Glosson, and Nimmon.

These also are perfectly fine names for your Elven characters. Enjoy!

 

I, Fiona, found this really interesting and fun to research. But I’m biased. I hope other Finns and Fionas out there found this fun as well!

If you’d like your name translated in this series, comment below and I’ll consider it for a future article!

Source:

Wiktionary, Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/windos; Last edited January 3rd, 2021.

1 Comment

  1. Patricia LaPorta | | Reply

    Going to get tattoo. Wanted Health and trust. Denoting my two most treasured things in life.Can’t find “Health”.

    Therefore may just go for trust but understand that the word for trust goes far beyond the English meaning.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *