Diana

Where the name comes from

• Latin
  Origin uncertain. Most often linked to an ancient root meaning "sky" or "daylight." The popular meaning "divine" or "goddess-like" is a common interpretation, not a settled fact.
  Latin Diana, the name of a Roman goddess. Scholars connect it to Latin dius ("daylight" or "godly") and dium ("sky"), and through them to a very old Indo-European root meaning "to shine."
  Diana was an ancient Italian goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and childbirth. The Romans later matched her with the Greek goddess Artemis. Her link to the moon probably came later, through Artemis. A 19th-century name historian traced the name back to an older form, Divajana. Experts still treat the exact origin as uncertain.

Diana across traditions

• Ancient Roman religion. Diana was a goddess of wild animals and the hunt. Women prayed to her for help with conception and childbirth. Her main temple in Rome stood on the Aventine Hill and was said to be about 2,500 years old. She was also seen as a protector of the lower classes, especially enslaved people.
• Spanish and Portuguese literature. Jorge de Montemayor's Los siete libros de la Diana (about 1559) was the first Spanish pastoral novel. Its heroine is a shepherdess named Diana. The book became a fashion across Europe and helped spread the name, including to France as Diane.
• Christian (English-speaking). Christians long saw Diana as a pagan name. A 19th-century name historian noted that ordinary English speakers sometimes mixed it up with the biblical name Dinah. Some may also have known it from the Bible's "Diana of the Ephesians."
• Jewish. In 1884, a name historian reported that in Rome at that time, only Jewish women bore the name Diana.
• United States. Diana ranks among the 100 most common girls' names given in the US over the past century. It was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, peaking at #42 in 1946.

Who carried it

• Diane de Poitiers (16th century, France): Famous French noblewoman. Her name, the French form of Diana, helped make Diane fashionable in France and later in England.
• Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer) (1961–1997): Princess of Wales and mother of Prince William and Prince Harry. She was one of the most famous people of her time and was known for her charity work.
• Diana Ross (Born 1944, Detroit, Michigan): American singer and actress who led the Supremes. She was born Diane Earle. A misprint on her birth certificate listed her name as Diana.

Forms in other languages

Diane, Deana, Di

Diana in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.