Dena

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Diana in DE Germany, NL Netherlands, PE Peru and 8 more, Diane in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 5 more, Dina in CZ Czechia, PL Poland, NO Norway and Дина in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 9 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Dena is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name35K records spelled Dena6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, France, Mexico

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Dëna, Deña, Déna

• Indonesian given name7.7K records spelled Dena3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, India, Philippines

  Also written Deña, 'Dena

• Italian given name1.9K records spelled Dena3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, San Marino

  Also written Deňa, Denã

• Hungarian given name1.0K records spelled Dena7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Hungary, Finland, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Déna, Dęna, Deña, Denã

• Greek given name883 records spelled Dena3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, Cyprus, Canada

  Also written Δένα, Δενα

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Dena is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In men, ? a kind of water-lily (Sch). From own information a tree, but not described. A water-lily. Leaf round kidney

  as a word·Mende Natural History Vocabulary

• English: modern coinage, representing either a respelling of DINA , or else a form created as a feminine version of DEAN .

  as a word

• In ang, nominative/accusative/genitive plural of dene

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Catalan, decade of the rosary

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Latin, inflection of dēnus:

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Dena Epsteinb. 1916USAmerican musicologist
• Dena Dietrichb. 1928USAmerican actress (1928-2020)
• Dena Headb. 1970USAmerican basketball player (born 1970)
• Dena Graysonb. 1971USAmerican medical doctor and biochemist
• Dena Hankinsb. 1975USAmerican writer
• Dena Landonb. 1977USAmerican writer
• Sabib. 1987USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer, songwriter and actress
• Dena Kaplanb. 1989ZASouth African-Australian actress and dancer
• Dena TakruriUSAmerican journalist
• Dena M. CarliUSAmerican politician

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 500 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Dena?

We estimate roughly 849 thousand people bear Dena (counting its spellings and scripts) across 14 countries in our records.

In which country does Dena have the most bearers?

Dena is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled diane.

Where is Dena most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Dena is densest in the Czechia — about 1 in 105 people — even though United Kingdom holds more of our records for it.

How common is Dena compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Dena is the 40th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Dena a male or female name?

Dena is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Dena mean?

Recorded meaning: Modern coinage, representing either a respelling of Dina, or else a form created as a feminine version of Dean.