Roman moon goddess, English princess, DC Comics superhero. Diana has accumulated 367,190 American bearers on SSA record across more than a century of charting, with a 1957 peak inside the top 10 and a current rank of 243 reflecting a long descent from one of the highest mid-century peaks in American girls' naming.
The Roman goddess
Diana is the Latin name of the Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon, wild animals, and chastity, sister of Apollo and counterpart to the Greek Artemis. The etymology traces to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "divine" or "heavenly," through the Latin dius ("god") and ultimately the same root that produces Zeus and Jupiter. The mythological figure was one of the most widely venerated deities in the Roman world, with major cult sites including the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, recognized as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The Christian-era pickup of Diana was slow, since the name carried strong pagan associations, but it was used quietly through the medieval period and gained mainstream traction in the early modern period through Renaissance interest in classical antiquity.
The royal lift and the Princess Diana effect
Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997) is the dominant 20th-century cultural anchor. Her 1981 marriage and the global media attention through the 1980s and 1990s gave the name a high-visibility royal register that lifted American naming through her lifetime. The 1997 death produced sustained cultural attention but did not produce a posthumous chart spike (the name was already in descent by then).
Diana also carries the Wonder Woman cultural anchor through the DC Comics character Diana Prince (introduced 1941), with the 2017 and 2020 Gal Gadot films giving the name a renewed pop-culture lift in the late 2010s. Singer Diana Ross (born 1944) is another high-visibility 20th-century bearer.
The counter-reading
Worth flagging the strong cohort association. The 1957 peak means Diana is most associated with women born 1948-1965, who are now in their 60s and 70s. A 2024 Diana will share the name primarily with grandmother-generation Americans, which can read as a clear vintage anchor or as slightly past-its-moment depending on family preference.
Sibling pairings lean classical: Diana and Victoria, Diana and Catherine, Diana and Helena. Middle names tend short and grounding: Diana Rose, Diana Jane, Diana Kate. Browse Latin-origin girl names.