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Dana - Origin and Meaning of the name

Meaning of the name Dana

[ 2 syll. da-na, dan-a ] The girl name Dana is also used as a boy name, though it is far more popular for girls. It is pronounced DEYNah KEY.

1: Dana has its origins in the Old English language and it is used largely in English. The first name is derived from the surname originally given to someone from Denmark; the name of the country is of the Indoeuropean dhen ('low, flat'). Alternatively, the surname could have been given to someone living around the English River Dane. It was first bestowed in honor of Richard Dana (1815-1882), the US author of Two Years before the Mast (1840) who was also known for his work in supporting the rights of fugitive slaves. Forms of the name include the English names Daine, Dane, Danna, and Dansy.

2: Dana's language of origin is Hebrew. It is predominantly used in Czech, German, Polish, and Romanian. Biblical name derived from the word dan which is of the meaning 'judge'. The generic name has been used in the Old Testament of the Bible. Also used by the twelve tribes of Israel. Dana is the feminine version of the German, English, and Romanian Dan.

3: Dana has its origins in the Arabic language and it is also used largely in Arabic. Meaning: 'black pearl'.

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

Dana is also a form (Slavic) of the English and German Jordan.

Dana is also a pet form (Polish) of the English, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, and Russian Daria.

Dana is an all-time favorite. At present 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 modestly in 1971 with 0.396% of baby girls being named Dana. It was #44 in rank then. The baby name has substantially dropped in popularity since then. In 2008, it ranked at #467 with a usage of only 0.033%. Among the family of girl names directly related to Dana, the Czech, English, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Romanian Daniela was the most frequently used. It was 4 times more regularly used than Dana in 2008.

Baby names that sound like Dana include the English Daina, the English Dayna, the Italian and Spanish Dama, the English Damey, the English Dami, the English Damie, the English Danae, the English Danaë, the English Danee, the English Dani, the Hebrew, Scandinavian, and German Dania, the English Danie, the English Danna, the English Danni, the English Dannie, the English Danny, the French and German Dany, the English, Russian, and Hebrew Danya, the English Dawna, and the English Dawnelle.

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.

KEY: English 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)"


 
Popularity Trend
for Dana
from 1900 to 2008
Variant Popularity Chart
for Dana
in 2008
 

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