Variant of Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon, hunting, and the wilderness.
Dianna is a variant spelling of Diana, one of the most enduring names in the Western tradition, rooted in the Latin *divus* — divine — and cognate with the Sanskrit *deva*. Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon, and the wilderness, the equivalent of the Greek Artemis: a virgin huntress who roamed the forests with her silver bow, simultaneously representing independence and the power of nature.
Her cult at Ephesus was among the most widely celebrated in the ancient world, and she was worshipped across the Roman Empire as a protector of women and the cycles of the natural world. The double-n spelling Dianna marks a subtle orthographic individualization within a name whose cultural footprint is enormous. The standard Diana has been borne by countless notable figures — most memorably Diana, Princess of Wales, whose grace, advocacy, and tragic early death made her one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century.
Literary Dianas include the spirited heroine of George Meredith's *Diana of the Crossways* (1885) and a recurring figure in Renaissance poetry as the unattainable, luminous ideal. The alternate Dianna spelling gives parents the chance to honor this rich tradition while setting a child slightly apart — preserving the name's mythological grandeur and celestial associations while adding a small note of distinctiveness.