Dana (/ˈdeɪnə/ or /ˈdænə/) as a surname may have several origins. In England, it came from dann, the valley of a meadow, and it may mean the dweller of that valley.[citation needed] In Continental Europe, it probably came from Dane (or Danish, from Denmark). This surname is related to Danese in Italy and it can be found mostly in the Piedmont region. It may also be a modification of Huguenot French origin, probably a variant of d'Aunay, of geographical origin. It may be also a Gaelic patronymic, since it is a common forename in Ireland. Dana is a relatively common surname in the US, ranking 7161 out of 88,799 in the 1990 U.S. Census. Dana is also the Persian word for wisdom. The Dana title is also found in India, where all Dana title-bearing people are Hindu.
At least into the first half of the 19th century, many American Danas were descended or of close relatives to Richard Henry Dana, who arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts around 1640.
People with the surname Dana
edit- Amasa Dana (1792–1867), American congressman (D-NY)
- Audrey Dana, French actress
- Bill Dana, see William Dana (disambiguation)
- Caden Dana (born 2003), American baseball player
- Charles Dana (disambiguation)
- Daniel Dana (1771–1859), American educator, president of Dartmouth College
- Deane Dana (1926–2005), American politician
- Doris Dana (1920–2006), American writer and translator
- E. Elizabeth Dana, proprietress of Miss Dana's School for Young Ladies
- Edmund Trowbridge Dana (1818–1869), United States jurist
- Edward Salisbury Dana, American mineralogist and physicist
- Fra M. Dana (1874–1948), American artist
- Francis Dana, American lawyer
- Felipe Dana, Brazilian Photographer
- George Augustus Dana (1840–1911), Canadian politician and playwright
- Henry Dana (1820–1852), founder of the Native Police force in Victoria, Australia
- Jack Dana (1921–1983), American basketball player
- James Dana (disambiguation)
- John Dana (disambiguation)
- Joseph Dana (1742–1827), United States clergyman
- Judah Dana (1772–1845), Maine statesman and United States Senator
- Leora Dana (1923–1983), American actress
- Lowell Dana (1891–1937), American football coach
- Mazen Dana, Palestinian Reuters cameraman who was shot dead by US soldiers
- Muriel Frances Dana (1916–1997), American child actress
- Napoleon J.T. Dana (1822–1905), a career U.S. Army officer
- Olive E. Dana (1859-?), American writer
- Paul Dana (1975–2006), American race car driver
- Paul Dana (journalist) (1852–1930), American journalist
- Philippe Dana (born 1959), French journalist
- Reza Dana, American doctor
- Richard Dana (disambiguation)
- Robert Dana (1929–2010), American poet
- Sam Dana (1903–2007), American football player
- Samuel Dana (Massachusetts politician) (1767–1835), Massachusetts politician, lawyer and judge
- Samuel Dana (clergyman) (1739–1798), Massachusetts clergyman and politician
- Samuel Luther Dana (1795–1868), a Massachusetts textile and agriculture chemist
- Samuel W. Dana, American lawyer and politician
- Simphiwe Dana, South African Xhosa singer-songwriter
- Stephen Winchester Dana (born 1840), United States clergyman
- Sophia Dana, nineteenth-century feminist, a Transcendentalist and later a Catholic
- Susan Lawrence Dana American feminist, suffragist and member of National Women's Party
- Vic Dana (born 1940), American dancer and singer
- Viola Dana (also known as Viola Flugrath, born Virginia Flugrath), silent movie actress
- Walter Dana, Polish-American musician
- William Dana (disambiguation)
See also
edit- Noah Dana-Picard, Israeli mathematician and Talmudic scholar
- Paul Dano, actor
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