Girl · Old Irish
Fionnuala
Say it: fin-NOO-uh-luh
Meaning
From Old Irish Finnguala, from finn 'white, fair' and gúala 'shoulder'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A frequent name among medieval Irish noble families; Nuala is its usual short form.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 136 babies given this name since 1985
- At its height in 2010, about 1 in 148,000 girls
- 6 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Fionnghuala, Finnguala, Nuala, Finola
| English | Fenella |
|---|---|
| Scottish Gaelic | Fionnghal |
Famous bearers
- Fionnuala, daughter of Lir, in the tale of the Children of Lir
- Flora MacDonald (Fionnghal), Jacobite heroine
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Irish annals and early Irish literature
- Well-known works of literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.