Diana (name)
Diana is a feminine given name of Latin and Greek origins.[1][2]
Gender | Female |
---|---|
Origin | |
Word/name | mythological |
Meaning | heavenly, divine |
Other names | |
Related names | Diane, Dianna, Kiana |
Variants
Variants in other languages
- Catalan: Diana[5]
- Croatian: Dijana[2]
- Dutch: Diana,[2] Diantha
- French: Diane[2]
- German: Diana[2]
- Hawaiian: Kiana[2]
- English: Diana,[2] Dianah,[2] Dianna,[2] Dyana,[2] Dyanna,[2] Deanna[2]
- Latin: Diana[1][4]
- Portuguese: Diana[2]
- Romani: Daiena[2]
- Romanian: Diana[2]
- Russian: Диана (Diana)[2]
- Serbian: Дијана (Dijana)[2]
- Slovenian: Dijana[2]
- Spanish: Diana[2]
Origin and diffusion
Diana recalls the Greek and Roman goddess Diana. Diana translates to the Latin form Artemis.[4][5] The name can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root *dyeu or *dyeus and *div- meaning "to shine" or "sky", dius, deus and diwio, "deity, god, godlike" and [4] dium meaning Universe.[5] The meanings are therefore "heavenly", "holy", "divine", "demonic", "celestial", "cosmic", "nebulous", "chaotic", "abyssal", "void", "luminous", "shining",[4] and in a broader sense "which brings the day", "which has light", "which has divine power", "which belongs to the void/abyss/chaos" and "which comes from the Universe/outer space".
Diana was already in use as a given name in ancient Rome, but exclusively outside Christian circles, in which it was seen as a pagan name.[4] In Italy, the variant "Daiana", an adaptation based on the English pronunciation, is also common.[3] The French variant "Diane" gained popularity during the 19th century.[2]
People
- Diana, Princess of Wales, British humanitarian and member of the British royal family
- Diana, Brazilian singer
- Diana Adlienė, Lithuanian medical physicist
- Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo, 11th Duchess of Cadaval, Portuguese noblewoman
- Dianna Agron, American actress
- Diana Athill, British literary editor, novelist and memoirist
- Diana Basho, Albanian swimmer
- Diana Beck, English neurosurgeon
- Diana Boulay, Canadian artist
- Diana Braithwaite, Canadian singer-songwriter
- Diana Bulimar, Romanian gymnast
- Diana Chalá, Ecuadorian judoka
- Diana Chelaru, Romanian gymnast
- Diana Churchill, daughter of Sir Winston Churchill
- Diana Damrau, German operatic soprano
- Diana Davis, Russian figure skater
- Diana Davies (athlete), British high jumper
- Diana Davies (actress), British actress
- Diana Dean, Canadian artist
- Diana DeGarmo, American singer and Broadway actress
- Diana degli Andalò, 13th-century Italian Dominican nun and convent superior beatified by the Roman Catholic Church
- Diana Dimova (born 1984), Bulgarian badminton player
- Diana Dors, English actress
- Diana Haddad, Lebanese pop singer
- Diana Hajiyeva, Azerbaijani singer-songwriter
- Diana Hayden, Miss World 1997 from India.
- Diana Hoddinott, British actress
- Diana Ibrahim, Lebanese actress and voice actress
- Diana Iovanovici Șoșoacă, Romanian lawyer and politician
- Diana Jones, American singer-songwriter
- Diana Karazon, Jordanian singer
- Diana King, Jamaican singer
- Diana Kobzanova, Czech topmodel
- Diana Körner, German actress
- Diana Kovacheva, Bulgarian lawyer and politician
- Diana Krall, Canadian jazz pianist and singer
- Diana Kurien, Indian actress
- Diana Lie, alias of Iranian-Norwegian model Aylar Lie
- Diana MacManus, American backstroke swimmer
- Diana Matheson, Canadian football midfielder
- Diana Meier, American basketball player and actress
- Diana Mitford, English writer, fascist, one of the Mitford sisters
- Diana Msewa, Tanzanian footballer
- Diana Muldaur, American television and film actress
- Diana Nyad, American author, journalist, motivational speaker and long-distance swimmer
- Diana Pickler, American heptathlete
- Diana Pineda, Colombian diver
- Diane de Poitiers, French aristocrat
- Diana Redhouse, British artist
- Diana Rigg, English actress
- Diana Ross, American singer and actress
- Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford
- Diana Sands, American actress
- Diana Šatkauskaitė, Lithuanian handballer
- Diana Scarwid, American actress
- Diana Silva (footballer), Portuguese professional footballer
- Diana Silva (model), Venezuelan model, environmental leader, singer, actress, cabin crew and beauty pageant titleholder
- Diana Silvers, American actress and model
- Diana Sowle, American actress
- Diana Staehly, German actress
- Diana Starkova, French beauty queen, Miss Europe 2016
- Diana Stöcker, German politician
- Diana Taurasi, Russian-American basketball player
- Diana Torrieri, Italian actress
- Diana Vaisman, Belarusian-born Israeli sprinter
- Diana Vickers, English singer
- Diana Vishneva, Russian ballerina
- Diana Vreeland, American fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar and editor-in-chief of Vogue
- Diana Williams, American journalist for Eyewitness News in New York City
- Diana Yukawa, Japanese-British violinist and composer
- Mike Diana, American underground cartoonist
Fictional people
- Diana, a character in the American TV miniseries V (1983 miniseries) and V The Final Battle
- Diana A, fictional mecha, Mazinger Z sidekick, after the demise of Aphrodite A
- Diana Allers, a fictional character in the role-playing video game Mass Effect 3
- Diana Burnwood, a character in Hitman
- Diana Cavendish, one of the main characters in the anime series Little Witch Academia
- Diana (Dyosa), a character in Dyosa
- Diana Wrayburn, a character from The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare
- Diana (MÄR), a major antagonist in the manga and anime series MÄR
- Diana (Sailor Moon), a fictional cat character in the Japanese anime and manga series Sailor Moon
- Diana (V TV series), the main antagonist in the 1980s science fiction TV franchise V
- Diana Barry, a character in L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables
- Diana Bishop, the central character of A Discovery of Witches
- Diana Lombard, one of the main characters in the French-Canadian animated series Martin Mystery
- Diana Prince, the secret identity of the DC Comics superhero Wonder Woman
- Diana, Scorn of the Moon, a playable champion character in the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends
- Diana the Acrobat, from the Dungeons & Dragons animated series
- Diana Davis, the main character in series 5 of the television series Sliders
See also
- Anna (given name)
- Diana (disambiguation)
- Diane (disambiguation)
- Jana (given name)
- All pages with titles beginning with Diana
References
- Crusca 1830, p. 627.
- Llewellyn 2011, p. 172.
- Galgani 2005, p. 215.
- Galgani 2005, p. 223.
- Albaigès 1993, p. 88.
Bibliography
- Accademia della Crusca (1830). Dizionario della lingua italiana – Volume VII. Padua: Tipografia della Minerva.
- Albaigès i Olivart, Josep M. (1993). Diccionario de nombres de personas. Edicions Universitat Barcelona. ISBN 84-475-0264-3.
- Galgani, Fabio (2005). Onomastica Maremmana. Centro Studi Storici "A. Gabrielli".
- Sheard, K. M. (2011). Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 0-7387-2368-1.