Dana (/ˈdnə/ 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

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