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Dana (given name)

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Dana
PronunciationUK: /ˈdɑːnə/ DAHN-ə
US: /ˈdeɪnə/ DAYN-ə
GenderUnisex
Origin
Word/nameMultiple
MeaningPearl, wise, arbiter, God is my judge, generous, short for Bogdana, Yordana or Daniela
Region of originGlobal
Other names
Related namesDena

Dana is a unisex given name. It was among the 100 most popular names given to girls born in the United States between 1960 and 1990. It has since fallen in popularity and was ranked the 446th most popular name given to girls born in the United States in 2007.[1] As a male forename it is well known in the United States, being in the 314th rank out of 1,219 in the 1990 U.S. Census.

Derivations

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The name has multiple derivations. Dana or Danah, in Arabic, means 'the most perfectly sized, valuable and beautiful pearl'.[2] This name is used mainly by Arab states of the Persian Gulf (Eastern Arabia), due to their traditional pearl diving professions wherein they gave different type of pearls names. In Persian, the word Dānā literally means 'wise', and some speculate that the name is first used as a first name in Shahnameh.[3] The name is used in Persian for both female and male sexes.

It may also refer to the mountain Dana or Dena. It may also come from Dane (from Denmark), the meaning of the common surname. It is also occasionally regarded as a feminine version of Daniel or a short version of feminine names such as Bogdana or Yordana. In Hebrew, the name Dana is the feminine form of Dan, and means 'arbiter' or 'God is my judge'. In Romanian and Czech, it is a feminine name, derived from the name Daniela; the masculine form being Dan/Daniel. In Sanskrit and Pali, the word means 'generosity'. The Sanskrit word was then used as a loanword in the Malay language and retranslated to 'fund' or 'alms'. As part of a nationwide campaign to assist Bruneian orphans financially, the Bruneian government in 1998 announced the name Dana as an official acronym for Dana Pengiran Muda Mahkota Al-Muhtadee Billah bagi Anak-Anak Yatim (Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah's Fund for Orphans). The name Dana itself is used in Brunei, particularly after the 2000s.

Pronunciation

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The name Dana has multiple pronunciations around the world, therefore multiple regions may have different pronunciations.[4][5][6]

People with the name

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Female

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Male

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  • Dana Allison (born 1966), American former professional baseball player
  • Dana Altman (born 1958), Oregon University basketball coach
  • Dana Andersen, Canadian actor, improvisor, filmmaker, writer and director
  • Dana Andrews (1909–1992), American actor
  • Dana Ashbrook (born 1967), American actor
  • Dana Olden Baldwin (1881–1972), American physician
  • Dana H. Ballard (1946–2022), American professor of computer science
  • Dana Barros (born 1967), American former professional basketball player, owner of the Dana Barros Sports Complex
  • Dana W. Bartlett (1860–1942), American Congregationalist minister
  • Dana Beal (born 1947), American social and political activist
  • Dana Bible (born 1953), American football coach and former player
  • Dana X. Bible (1891–1980), American football player, coach, and athletic administrator
  • Dana Boente (born 1954), Acting Attorney General of the United States
  • Dana Bourgeois (born 1953), American luthier
  • Dana Brinson (born 1965), former professional American football wide receiver
  • Dana Brunetti (born 1973), American film producer and social networking entrepreneur
  • Dana Bullen (1931–2007), American activist
  • Dana Bumgardner (1954–2021), American politician
  • Dana Tai Soon Burgess (born 1968), American performance artist and choreographer
  • Dana Burnell (born 1963), American drummer
  • Dana Carey (1903–1976), American football player
  • Dana Carroll (born 1943), American molecular biologist and biochemist
  • Dana Carvey (born 1955), American comedian who has appeared as a cast member of Saturday Night Live and in the Wayne's World movie series
  • Dana Chambers (1895–1946), pen name of the mystery novelist Albert Leffingwell
  • Dana Childs (1922–1999), Member of the Maine House of Representatives
  • Dana Chipman (born 1958), American military lawyer, former Judge Advocate General of the United States Army
  • Dana L. Christensen (born 1951), American federal judge, for the District of Montana
  • Dana Coin (born 1949), American football player and coach
  • Dana Colley (born 1961), American musician, saxophonist in the alternative rock band Morphine
  • D. C. Coolidge (1871–1955), American politician
  • Dana Cooper, American singer-songwriter
  • Dana Countryman (born 1954), American electronic music composer and performer, publisher of Cool and Strange Music Magazine
  • Dana Curtis Covey, American military veteran
  • Dana Criswell (born 1963), American politician
  • Dana Dane (born 1965 as Dana McLeese), rap artist
  • Dana Lee Dembrow (born 1953), American lawyer, legislator and jurist
  • Dana DeMuth (born 1956), Major League Baseball umpire
  • Dana Deshler (1937–2012), member of the Ohio House of Representatives
  • Dana Dimel (born 1962), American football coach and former player
  • Dana A. Dorsey (1872–1940), American businessman, banker, and philanthropist
  • Dana Dow, Republican former Maine state senator
  • Dana Elcar (1927–2005), American television and movie character actor
  • Dana Eveland (born 1983), American professional baseball pitcher
  • Dana Ewell (born 1971), American convicted triple murderer
  • Dana Ferrell, American politician
  • Dana Fillingim (1893–1961), American major league baseball pitcher
  • Dana Ford (born 1984), American college basketball coach
  • Dana Fradon (1922–2019), American cartoonist
  • Dana Gartzke, American bureaucrat
  • Dana Giacchetto (1962–2016), American fraudster and money manager
  • Dana Gioia (born 1950), American poet
  • Dana Karl Glover (born 1958), American trumpet player and music composer for video games, also known as Karl James or Dr. Dana
  • Dana Goldberg (born 1979), Israeli film director, poet and playwright
  • Dana Goldman (born 1966), professor of economics at the University of Southern California
  • Dana Gonzales (born 1963), American cinematographer
  • Dana Gould (born 1964), American comedian and comedy writer
  • Dana McLean Greeley (1908–1986), founding president of the Unitarian Universalist Association
  • Dana Hall (born 1969), former American professional football player
  • Dana Hall (musician) (born 1969), American jazz drummer, percussionist, composer, bandleader, and ethnomusicologist
  • Dana Hamilton (born 1950), American hammered dulcimer player
  • Dana Hammond (born 1978), American record producer, composer, songwriter, drummer and bass guitarist
  • Dana Hanley, American politician, attorney and jurist
  • Dana Heitman (born 1966), trumpeter for the Cherry Poppin' Daddies
  • Dana Holgorsen (born 1971), American football coach and former player
  • Dana Holt, professional baseball player
  • Dana Howard (born 1972), former professional American football player
  • Dana Jennings (born 1957), American journalist and author, New York Times editor
  • Dana Kafer (1880–1937), American college football player
  • Dana Evan Kaplan (born 1960), rabbi, writer on Reform Judaism and American Judaism
  • Dana Key (1953–2010), American Christian rock singer and pastor
  • Dana Kiecker (born 1961), former major league baseball pitcher, sportscaster
  • Dana M. King (1890–1952), American college football coach
  • Dana Knutson, American fantasy artist, known for illustrating role-playing games
  • Dana Kunze (born 1961), former champion high diver
  • Dana and Ginger Lamb, American travel writer, co-wrote with his wife Ginger
  • Dana Lambert (born 1979), Canadian author, politician and cannabis legalization activist
  • Dana Larsen (born 1971), Canadian politician
  • Dana Latham (1898–1974), American attorney
  • Dana Leong, musical artist
  • Dana LeVangie (born 1969), American professional baseball player, scout and coach
  • Dana Lynch (born 1949), American politician
  • Dana Lyons, folk music and alternative rock musician
  • Dana Ahmed Majid, Iraqi Kurdish politician, former governor of Sulaymaniah
  • Dana Malone (1857–1917), American politician, attorney general of Massachusetts
  • Dana McKenzie, American football official
  • Dana McLemore (born 1960), former professional American football cornerback
  • Dana G. Mead (1936–2018), American businessman, former chairman of MIT's board of trustees
  • Dana T. Merrill (1876–1957), United States Army general
  • Dana Milbank (born 1968), American journalist
  • Dana Mohler-Faria, American education administrator, president of Bridgewater State University
  • Dana Carleton Munro (1866–1933), American historian
  • Dana Murzyn (born 1966), former Canadian professional ice hockey league player
  • Dana S. Nau (born 1951), professor of computer science and systems research at the University of Maryland, College Park
  • Dana Nafziger (born 1953), American football player
  • Dana Nielsen, American mix engineer, audio engineer, record producer and saxophonist
  • Dana Olsen, American scriptwriter
  • Dana Pagett (born 1949), American professional basketball player and coach
  • Dana Peterson, American political consultant, husband of Louisiana state senator Karen Carter Peterson
  • Dana J. H. Pittard (born 1959), American major general
  • Dana Porter (1901–1967), Canadian politician and jurist
  • Dana Prieto, American politician
  • Dana Quigley (born 1947), American professional golfer
  • Dana Redd (born 1968), American Democratic politician, mayor of Camden, New Jersey
  • Dana G. "Buck" Rinehart (1946–2015), 50th mayor of Columbus, Ohio
  • Dana Rohrabacher (born 1947), U.S. Representative (R-CA)
  • Dana Rosenblatt (born 1972), American world champion middleweight boxer, nicknamed "Dangerous"
  • Dana Fuller Ross, pen name used by Western novelists Noel Gerson and James Reasoner
  • Dana P. Rowe, American musical theater composer
  • Dana Rucker (1868–1949), American college football coach
  • Dana Sabraw (born 1958), United States federal judge
  • Dana Sawyer (born 1951), American biographer and professor of religion
  • Dana Scott (born 1932), American mathematician
  • Dana Adam Shapiro, American film director
  • Dana Sheridan, American flute maker
  • Dana Shires (born 1932), American physician, research scientist, and inventor
  • Dana A. Simmons, American air force general
  • Dana Skoropad, Canadian politician
  • Dana Snyder (born 1973), American comedian and actor
  • Dana Snyman, South African journalist, writer and playwright
  • Dana Stein (born 1958), American Democratic politician
  • Dana Stinson (born 1971), American hip hop and R&B record producer, rapper and singer, known by the stage name Rockwilder
  • Dana Stone (1939–1971), American photo-journalist
  • Dana Strum (born 1958), heavy metal bassist (Slaughter)
  • Dana Stubblefield (born 1970), American professional football defensive tackle
  • Dana Summers, American cartoonist (Bound and Gagged, The Middletons)
  • Dana Tomlin, American cartographer, inventor of map algebra
  • Dana Tyrell (born 1989), American professional ice hockey player
  • Dana Veth (born 1987), former Bahamian footballer
  • Dana Wachs (born 1957), American lawyer and politician
  • Dana E. Wallace (1917–2007), American biologist
  • Dana Ward (born 1957), professor emeritus of political studies at Pitzer College
  • Dana Wells (born 1966), retired American football nose tackle
  • Dana White (born 1969), President of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)
  • L. Dana Wilgress (1892–1969), Canadian diplomat
  • Dana Wilson (born 1946), American composer, jazz pianist, and teacher
  • Dana Wilson (1983–2011), Cook Islands professional rugby league player
  • Dana Wright (born 1963), American football player
  • Dana Zimmerman, American paralympic athlete

Disambiguation

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Fictional characters with the name

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  • Dana, fictional intern on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale
  • Dana, on the television show Angel
  • Dana, the title character's lover in the Italian photo comic Killing (later revived as Sadistik: The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal)
  • Dana Appleton, the lawyer opposite Jim Carrey's character in the 1997 film Liar Liar
  • Dana Barrett, featured in the Ghostbusters movies
  • Dana Carrington, minor character in the American TV series Dynasty
  • Dana Cruz, character on Zoey 101
  • Dana Dearden, obsessed Superman fan who called herself Superwoman
  • Dana Fairbanks, main character from Showtime's lesbian drama series The L Word
  • Dana Foster, fictional character on Step By Step
  • Dana Freeling, a female character in the film Poltergeist (1982)
  • Dana Iclucia female protagonist from the video game Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
  • Dana Knightstone, fictional novelist, main character of the Dana Knightstone series of games
  • Dana Lambert, regular character on the TV show Mission: Impossible
  • Dana Marschz, main character in Hamlet 2
  • Dana Mercer, younger sister of main character Alex Mercer in the video game Prototype
  • Dana Miller and Dana Defruse, two characters from Louds
  • Dana Mitchell, on the show Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers
  • Dana Monroe, from EastEnders
  • Dana Scully, one of the main characters on the television show The X-Files
  • Dana Sterling, from the Robotech anime television series
  • Dana Stevens, a fictional trans woman featured in Chris Bohjalian's novel Trans-Sister Radio
  • Dana Tan, Batman's girlfriend on the TV series Batman Beyond
  • Dana Taylor, the former name of Zach Young on the television show Desperate Housewives
  • Dana Whitaker, a character in the television series Sports Night
  • Dana Wolf, on the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe
  • Dana, from the TV series Wayside.
  • Dana, a leader of the Battle Maison in the video games Pokémon X and Y

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Dana: Popularity for Dana in the United States". Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  2. ^ "دانة" [Danah] (in Arabic). WebTeb. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Abstractions". Persian Online. The University of Texas at Austin. 2007. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  4. ^ فـورڤو, فريق عمل. "نٌطق Dana : كيف تنطق Dana فى الرومانية, الإنجليزية, البولندية, الألمانية, السلوفاكية, التركية القديمة, السلوفانية, الجاوية, المجرية, الأيرلندية, الأذربيجانية, الإندونيسية, التشيكية, التركية, السبرانتوية". Forvo.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  5. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
  6. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
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