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Dana - Origin and Meaning of the name

Meaning of the name Dana
 
 

 



The girl name Dana [ 2 syll. da-na, dan-a ] is also used as a boy name, though it is far more popular for girls. It is pronounced DEYNah KEY. Dana has its origins in the Old English and Hebrew languages. It is used largely in English and German. From Old English roots, its meaning is 'Dane' - in this context, Dana is usually used in the English language. Derived from the word dhen with the meaning 'low, flat'. The given name is from a surname originally given to someone from Denmark; the name of the country contains the Indoeuropean 'dhen'. The family name was promoted by the fame of US poet and novelist Richard Dana (1815-82), who was known for his work in supporting the rights of fugitive slaves.

A form of Dana is the English Dayna.

In addition, Dana is a form (German) of the Czech, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Romanian Daniela.

Dana is an all-time favorite. Today it is still rather popular as a baby girl name, but not as much as it was in the past. The name grew in popularity from the 1910s up to the 1970s. Its usage peaked in 1971 with 0.396% of baby girls being named Dana. It had a ranking of #44 then. The baby name has substantially dropped in popularity since then. In 2007, it ranked at #446 with a usage of only 0.034%. Among the family of girl names directly related to Dana, the Czech, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Romanian Daniela was the most commonly used. It was more frequently used than Dana by 4 times in 2007. Although there were times prior to 1954 that Dana was more popular with boys, today it is used more commonly as a girl name. There were 12 times more girls than boys who were named Dana in 1997.

Baby names that sound like Dana include the English Dayna, the English Danaë, the French and German Dany, the English Demi, the Dutch Demy, the French and German Diane, the French and German Dianne, the English and German Dina, the English and German Dinah, the English Dionne, the English Donna, the English, Italian, and Spanish Drina, the Slavic Dunja, the Russian Dunya, the English Dawn, the German Dayana, the English Deana, the English Deanna, the English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish Diana, the English Dianna, and the Italian Damiana.

KEY: Pronunciation for Dana: D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"


Details of famous persons named Dana:
Actress Dana Delany, born 13 March 1956, New York, New York.
Actress Queen Latifah, born Dana Owens 18 March 1970, Newark, New Jersey.

Popularity Trend
for Dana
from 1900 to 2007Variant Popularity Chart
for Dana
in 2007

Meaning of Dana Meaning of Dayna Meaning of Daniela Meaning of Dandie Meaning of Dandy Meaning of Dany Meaning of Danila Meaning of Danijela Meaning of Danielle Meaning of Daniella Meaning of Daniele Meaning of Danuse Meaning of Dandie Meaning of Andrew Meaning of Dandy Meaning of Dany Meaning of Daniel Meaning of Daniele Meaning of Dana Meaning of Dane