Nina or Iona

[Peridotty]

Currently 37 weeks pregnant! Which one is better? A couple of people have said Iona is a bit of a mouthful or don’t know how to pronounce it. Three people thought it was Loner! I like both but maybe Nina more because it is short and sweet. Husband prefers Iona. Thank you.

I prefer Iona out of the two xx

Iona

Nina

I much prefer Nina

I absolutely love both.

Love Iona. I've seen Nina crop up on quite a few threads lately which suggests it's getting quite popular if that would be something that bothers you?

Both lovely names. My great niece is Iona and it suits her well. Being Scottish I think I like that one slightly better.

@ceibatree if it gets to top 10 then it would bother us! At the moment it’s still not so common.

Iana is better than both in my opinion.

Nina sounds like a short name for something... can't imagine calling a 30+ Nina...

@Peridotty I prefer Iona as long as surname isn’t Carr or something else problematic.

i like them both,

Love Nina!

Ooh I like both. Nina does seem to have been mentioned a fair bit recently so may be one of those “you think it’s uncommon until you go to primary school and there’s 3 in the class” type names. Iona is very Scottish (wouldn’t cause any pronunciation issues there) and you do need to consider your surname with it quite carefully!

Love both

@emmathedilemmma good points! I'd also look at the official statistics though OP rather than putting too much emphasis on how often a name appears on Mumsnet. Names like Willa and Clarence and Barbara are mentioned on here a fair bit. In the "real world" all three names are practically extinct

I've looked at the official statistics now. Nina's numbers have been on a plateau year on year since 2015/2016 so doesn't appear to be about to explode in popularity

Iona is beautiful

Depends on your surname.

What @MikeUniformMike said. Both are nice but if surname allows, love Iona.

Would "Nina" be pronounced "Niner" or "Neena"?

Used to know a "Niner" in Wales a long time ago so always assumed it was that, but recently heard someone saying "Neena".

Yup surname works ! Not a noun

@lamarshallin I would pronounce it Neena.

Peridotty

Definitely think that pronunciation is prettier.
DD has a friend called "Iona" and she gets called "Yonz" as a nickname.
Not sure if that's a good or bad thing - just putting it out there

Nina - it’s gorgeous. Love author Nina Bawden (Carrie’s War) too. I don’t know how to pronounce Iona. Eye-oh-nah?

Niona?

Iona is quite long for just four letters.
The first Nina I met was in her 20s and it was many years ago. I thought it was a cool name.

I'd pick Nina, but both are very pretty.

Oh, if your surname is a brand, don't use Iona. Google your surname if in doubt.