If I, as a British person with no connection to the USA, named my daughter

[helloagainhowareyou]

Dana (pronounced day-na) would you think it was weird?

I love the name but I've never met or heard of a British person with the name before. All the fictional characters named Dana that I can think of off the top of my head are all American and the only two Dana's I've met in real life were both American.

I mentioned the name as a possibility to my mum and she looked at me like this . A friend who I told also seemed to raise her eyebrows slightly.

Is it really that out there or weird?

[HarryTheHamster]

I forgot to add that I do really like this name - although I think I do prefer it spelt Dayna. If I ever have a little girl it will defiantly be on my shortlist.

[HarryTheHamster]

It's true there is no "y" in the name Dana. However Dayna is a legitimate alternative spelling of the name Dana. So it makes more sense to me to pronounce it as Day-na.

I've never heard it pronounced dan-a or dar-na before. Then again I do watch a lot of American TV and films and all the Dana's I've come across on there have all been day-na's and if that's really the American pronunciation that would make sense. I've also never come across any British people with this name - either real or fictional, only Americans so to me it is an American name. Not a weird one or a one that's out there or one that would make me think "weird American name" but still an American name.

I wouldn't think it was weird if a British person named their baby this though.

[rusmum]

I know 2 Dana's ( pron dayna) both lovely girls ( one 10, one 21)

[CookieB]

I know 2 little Danas, pronounced day-na. I'm in Scotland. Was on my short list for my newborn daughter, it's a lovely name .

[PixieofCatan]

Vintage The Persian pronunciation of it would be with an "r" sound, there are a lot of Persian names and words with an "r" sound but it's not written into the transliterated texts, not sure why though. As Shadow said, there's no "y" in it either, if we were going to pronounce it phonetically it'd be "da-na".

[ShadowStar]

There's no y in the spelling of Dana either.....

[Vintagejazz]

I'm confused as to why people would think it's pronounced Dar-na when there's no r in the spelling.

It's not an Irish name by the way. Dana the singer's real name was Rosemary and I don't know where the Dana nickname came from. But I'm Irish and I've never heard of another Dana over here. I would consider it an American name.

[tmae]

My name is often misspelled and it doesn't bother me, if you love the name you should definitely go for it!

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

My sister had a friend called Dana, pronounced Dayna, and she's British.

[zingally]

I wouldn't hear it and think "that's a weird American name!" It's a nice name and she'd be a uniquely named child in her class.

[PopGoesTheToast]

I would assume it's pronounced dayna. I've never heard of it being pronounced darna or danna before. Danna just sounds odd when I say it out loud.

[jazzyjenbo]

This us one if my favourite names and is on my 'potentials if i have a baby girl' list.
But i like the spelling 'dayna' ... When i read your spelling 'dana' i still said (day-na) .. I'm in nw england x

[OscarWinningActress]

I live in North America. Dana is really underused here now for babies..it was super-popular in the 1970's and 80's which is why most Danas I know are mid to late thirties. I like it though and I think it's ready for a comeback. Living in the UK, you'll probably get more of a range of pronunciations than you would here, but if you're OK with that then go for it!

[helloagainhowareyou]

So after much thought I have decided I am going to go for it. I am also going to stick to my original spelling of Dana and my original (American?) pronunciation of day-na.

I guess people might mispronounce it sometimes but I think that will be easily corrected. However that would only really happen if people were reading the name and didn't know which pronunciation to go for. Most of the time I imagine she'll be introducing yourself.

Speaking as someone who often has her name misspelled and sometimes mispronounced I view it as a minor annoyance that takes a couple of seconds to correct.

[Raines100]

I quite like it. I am equally familiar with both pronunciations- Darna the Irish Eurovision entry (and maybe unhelpful to mention, but wasn't there a transgender Israeli winner called Dana International?) and Dayna the American name. Can think of loads of Dayna's from American TV- and I think at least one was a bloke. Wouldn't know which until you told me, but would know either would be likely. Think Dayna is defo better than Darna.

[PixieofCatan]

Like lucked days as well, I also have a named that is never spelt right so I just spell it out from the start to save hassle!

[PixieofCatan]

I'd spell it with a y, but as I said up thread, I have a sister named Dana and had a friend named Dayna, so it makes sense to me!

[Lucked]

If people are going to write my name down I quickly spell it, takes two seconds. Let's face it, if your name is Amy you now have to spell it if it is going to be written down. People are going to ask you how it is spelt with or without the y.

I prefer it without the y, looks like a classic name.

As for continual mispronunciation You don't have to correct people several times a week, that would assume several times a week people would mispronounce the name by reading it from paper (wrongly) when in reality nine times out of ten you introduce yourself. I have a properly unusual name so speak from experience. The odd time at doctors etc but not on a day to day basis.

I think a lot of people will get Dana right.

[helloagainhowareyou]

DefiniteMaybe I didn't like the Dayna spelling at first - it seemed like a bit of a made up spelling but it turns out that Dayna is a legitimate alternative spelling to Dana. I think spelling it Dayna is actually growing on me.

However if people are going to be mispronouncing it then I'm starting to worry people will misspell it often regardless of which spelling I go for.

Quick question, if you met someone who introduced themselves to you as "day-na" then how would you assume the name was spelt? If most people in the UK aren't going to pronounce Dana as day-na then I wonder if they'll assume that someone called "day-na" wouldn't spell their name as Dana iyswim? Would they automatically just stick the "y" in there when writing it down because that's how it's pronounced?

[Lucked]

It's not like it's a tricky pronunciation to master, it's not a tongue twister. I would know it was Day-na and I imagine a lot of people would too. My niece is a Cora and sometimes people pick the wrong pronunciation but it is an easy correction.

I think it is a great name and would love to meet a little Dana. Go for it!!

[birdofthenorth]

Not weird, and I like it, but I did think it was pronounced Darna.

[BackforGood]

I guess this will depend on your age.
I too would assume "Dar-na" like the Irish singer from the 70s.
I think in the UK people would be more likely to go with the Irish way than the American, wouldn't they ?

I guess it depends on how much you think it will annoy her over the next 90 yrs or so, having to correct people's pronunciation of her name several times a week.

I'm not particularly keen, but I've herd a lot worse.

[dana4nyc]

As an American named Dana who has lived in the UK I would definitely suggest using the spelling Dayna. I've spent my entire life (in the states and the UK) being called Donna, Diana, Dena, Dinah and countless others. The whole time I lived in England people called me Donna even though I corrected them. I soon gave up and just rolled with it!!

[Purpleroxy]

I like it. People who've watched Homeland will have no prob pronounciation.

[iamdivergent]

My best friend is Dana said like it looks. She's 29 so it is about! dd2 goes to school with one too, said the same way