Mona - Name Meaning and Popularity -

Meaning of Mona

Anchored in a confluence of linguistic streams, the feminine forename Mona may be traced to four principal sources: first, the Gaelic Móna, a late-medieval diminutive of Muadhnait that connotes “little noble one”; second, the Scandinavian and Anglo-American pet form of the early Christian Monica; third, the Arabic منى (munā), whose abstract plural signifies “wishes” or “deep desires”; and fourth, the Italian honorific “Mona,” a contraction of ma donna, immortalized in Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Lisa Gherardini and hence furnishing the name with an enduring artistic aura. Phonetically stabilized in contemporary English as MOH-nuh, the name has maintained a modest but uninterrupted presence in United States vital statistics: after peaking during the Progressive Era it has settled, over the past half-century, into the middle hundreds of the national ranking, thereby retaining recognizability without succumbing to overuse. These layered origins, coupled with the cultural cachet bestowed by the Mona Lisa and periodic appearances of actresses, writers, and political figures who bear the name, allow Mona to project an image that is at once cosmopolitan, concise, and historically resonant.