Kioni
Meaning of Kioni
Kioni, pronounced /kiˈoʊni/, is a feminine given name of Kikuyu provenance that evokes the deep brown hues of fertile soils, a semantic field captured in Latin by terra firma. In its original East African context, Kioni signifies “the dark brown one,” connoting both the pigment of earth and the resilience encoded within maternal lineages—a nuance observed in situ across highland communities. Phonetically, the English form is standardized as /kiˈoʊni/, employing a stressed diphthong in the second syllable, which aligns both British and American variants. Although still rare in U.S. records, the name has exhibited a modest upward trajectory: from a nadir at rank 982 in 2007 to 935 in 2024, with annual occurrences oscillating between five and eighteen since the late 1990s. These fluctuations underscore its status as a distinctive cultural identifier in contemporary onomastic study.
Pronunciation
British English
- Pronunced as kee-OH-nee (/kiˈəʊni/)
American English
- Pronunced as kee-OH-nee (/kiˈoʊni/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
