Dana

Meaning: uncertain

Origin: Cross-linguistic

Dana has genuinely independent origins in several unrelated traditions, with no single one clearly dominant: the Persian dānā, 'wise'; a short form of the Hebrew Dan or Daniel; the Irish goddess Danu, ancestor-figure of the Tuatha Dé Danann; and a Czech and Slovak name in its own right. Which reading applies to a given Dana usually comes down to the family, not the word.