4 Names That Quietly Defined Stevie Nicks’ Songwriting and Discography

Fleetwood Mac rocker Stevie Nicks has been known to attach certain names to her songs. From “Rhiannon” to “Emmaline,” here are four names that have quietly defined some of her best work.

Rhiannon From “Rihannon”

“Rhiannon” was a song Nicks had written before joining Fleetwood Mac. It ended up being a song on the band’s self-titled album and was later released as a single. Described by Nicks as a song about “an old Welsh witch,” “Rihannon” was a staple of Fleetwood Mac’s setlists from 1975 to 1982.

“I read the name [Rhiannon] in a, just a novel and really liked it and thought, ‘That’s really a beautiful name,’” Nicks once shared in an interview. “Sat down, tap, tap, tap… about ten minutes later wrote ‘Rhiannon‘. We think that she was, in fact, Queen and that her memory became the myth. I definitely feel that there’s a presence…”

Sara From “Sara”

Sara was the name of Nicks’ best friend, who ended up marrying Mick Fleetwood, with whom Nicks had an affair. According to her, it was also the name she would have picked had she ever had a baby with Don Henley. Nicks dated the Eagles drummer in the late 70s. She ended up terminating a pregnancy in 1977, not long after the initial success of Fleetwood Mac’s album Rumours.

“Had I married Don and had that baby, and had she been a girl, I would have named her Sara,” Nicks explained once to Billboard. 

Alice From “Alice”

“Alice” is a track from Nicks’ album The Other Side Of The Mirror. Much of the album is loosely based on Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. 

“’Alice’ is Stevie writing about Alice in parallel back to Stevie, so I’m really writing about Alice’s adventures as in comparison to my adventures,” Nicks once explained in an interview. “For Alice to run back and forth between the looking glass is kind of what I perceive my whole life to be…”

Emmaline From “Seven Wonders”

“Seven Wonders” was actually written by Sandy Stewart, a musician who sang background and co-wrote songs on Nicks’ A Wild Heart album. The funny thing about this song is that the “Emmaline” lyric was actually originally something else. Nicks misheard it as “all the way down to Emmaline.“ She ended up getting writers’ credit because she liked the name so much.

“I had become so attached to the name Emmaline that we kept it in, and she gave me a small percentage,” Nicks explained of the song to Rolling Stone.

Photo By: Rick Diamond/Getty Images

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