Mona is a female, and sometimes male, given name and a surname of multiple origins.
Pronunciation | /ˈmoʊnə/ MOH-nə |
---|---|
Gender | Female |
Origin | |
Meaning | various |
Other names | |
Related names | Monica, Ramona, Simona |
As a given name, Mona can have the following meanings and origins;
Language | Source | Meaning | Variant forms | Gender |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arabic | Variant transliteration of Muna (مُنى) | Wish[1] | Muna, Mouna | Female |
Breton | Variant of Marivona | Female | ||
Formosan: Atayal Seediq |
Atayal: Male Seediq: Male and Female | |||
Gaelic/Irish | Anglicized form of Muadhnait [citation needed] | Noble One | Monah, Monna, Monya | Female |
Greek | Monos (μονος) | Solitary, One | Female | |
Early Italian | Contraction of the title Madonna | My lady | Female | |
Miwok | Gathered of the seed of a jimson weed. | Male and Female | ||
Nepalese | Bud | Muna | Female | |
Old English | Moon | Female | ||
Persian | منا or مونا | An adjective for God, derives from Mana, means who lasts forever | Female | |
Scottish | Female form of Tormod, derived from Norman | Northman, Viking [2] | Female | |
Sanskrit | Alone, silence | Female | ||
Teutonic | Loner | Female |
In northern Europe, where the name is much more popular,[citation needed] Mona is interpreted as a diminutive of Monika or, rarely, of Ramona or Simona.[citation needed] It is sometimes associated with the title of Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa, although in that context the word Mona is actually a title rather than a name. The word mona also means cute, monkey and doll in Spanish. In Sweden, Mona's name day is May 4.[3]
Mona was a relatively popular given name in the United States in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s. The highest ranking it ever reached in the US was #230, in 1950.[4]
As a surname, Mona can have two origins. In Italian and Greek, it is a feminine form of Moni which is a short form of Simone, the Italian form of Simon. In Arabic countries, it is derived from the given name Muna, meaning "unreachable wishes". It is the plural form of the word Munia (مـُـنيه).[5]
Notable people with the surname include: