Comments for ALANA:

The name "Alana" originally is of the Irish origin and means "beautiful", "peaceful", and "serene".

-- Anonymous User  3/22/2005

Alana is an Irish/Celtic name, which means "fair maiden" or "beautiful maiden". (it's my name so I've researched it's meaning).

-- minxette  6/1/2005

I (and about half of the people who try to say it) pronounce my name a-LAH-na. Personally I like it better this way, but maybe that's just because it's my name.

-- Alannnna  6/9/2005

My friend likes to pronounce Alana Ah-LON-ah.

-- Anonymous User  6/30/2005

This is one of Ariel's sisters in The Little Mermaid. She has a pink tail.

-- Jordania  7/26/2005

I think the name Alana is quite weird, haha. My dad's name is Alan so I guess I shouldn't diss the name too much because I'm named after him. I guess it's not too bad. There's not many people I know of with the same name. :)

-- Alana14  9/11/2005

I named my daughter Alana Yayra which means beautiful blessing, Alana Irish meaning Beautiful and Yayra Ewe Ghana African meaning blessing.

-- Anonymous User  1/25/2006

Alana banana.

-- Anonymous User  3/28/2006

I have always liked this name, a-LAN-a. I only know of one person with this name. Nice that it isn't an overly used name.

-- Anonymous User  4/25/2006

I have a very eastern European last name so my parents decided to go with a similar first name. I pronounce it uh-LAY-nuh. I like it much better than the traditional pronunciation.

-- blujay  5/30/2006

Alana is a beautiful name for a girl. Easy to grow up with too. I prefer this spelling the best.

-- Anonymous User  6/5/2006

I love it! So pretty, my daughter's name will be Carys Alana.

-- Anonymous User  6/22/2006

Hate Alan, LOVE Alana. No Allannahs or Allaneahs, please, stick with Alana!

-- wefrox  7/17/2006

I have always pronounced this name as a-LON-ah instead of a-LAN-ah. I think it is prettier with the soft a.

-- glassmidnight  10/1/2006

I like this name; very simple and elegant. I always pronounced it 'Ah-lah-nah'. There is also a character on the show The 4400 named 'Alana' with this pronuncation, I think.

-- Iridosmine  10/22/2006

I think the name Alana would sound pretty like this: alan-a - a bit like Elena.

-- clems  12/28/2006

This name is okay, but it should be pronounced uh-LAH-nuh. If you're going to pronounce it uh-LAY-nuh then you should have just named your kid Elaina.

-- Anonymous User  1/9/2007

My name is Alana (uh lah na), and I've been called Alana Banana (so embarassing) but besides that I think the name is pretty cool and I'm loving the meanings.

-- bxcutie4life  1/24/2007

I was named this (I'm of the Uh-LAH-nah pronunciation), and I've always HATED having it for a name. No one can pronounce it, no one can spell it, and it's appalling how many people seem to MILITANTLY believe this is not a real name--I had a teacher who insisted on spelling and pronouncing my name Elena, the entire year, and I've had so many people, even after being corrected or specifically asking me the spelling/pronunciation calling me Ee-lay-nah/El-layne-uh/whatever else anyway. It's as if they're doing it for spite because they don't consider it a proper name. I also had a boss who'd named his daughter the same thing (it might have been spelled Alona though) and insisted on continually lecturing me on how my name was Hawaaian in origin and refusing to believe mine was the Celtic version. I go by Lana now, just to avoid the mispronouncing and "That's really your name?! disbelief.

-- Madam Jadis  2/4/2007

This is my name. I love it because it always has a good meaning (it's Irish and means beautiful fair, etc. And some sites say it is also Hawaiian and basically means the same thing). I'm named after my dad who I don't really get along with, which is the only downfall besides wrong pronunciations and spellings.

-- dreamer_x  2/5/2007

This is my name. I love it, but I hate when people don't pronounce it right. I say mine a-LAY-na. I don't like a-LAN-a or a-LAWN-a at all, but that's what people say to me all the time. I wish my parents would have spelled it Alaina or Alayna so people would know how to say it.

-- tinydancer07  3/11/2007

I know a girl with this name, but it's pronounced like El-aine-a.

-- bellaboo  4/10/2007

In the series of "Star Wars" books, Jacen Solo, the eldest son of Han and Leia, has a daughter with Tenel Ka who is named Allana.

-- Martha Gold  4/11/2007

It has a great sound pronounced a-lan-ah.

-- LilaMayaNeve  6/15/2007

This my name. =) I like it most of the time, except I have two friends named Deanna and Rhianna, and sometimes our names get mixed up. I also know people named Bryanna and Kianna. ^_^

-- bobcat_explorer  7/4/2007

This is my name and I love it! It's a fairly unusual name which I like, unfortunatly this does tend to lead to mis-pronunciations (I have the Celtic pronunciation (ah-lah-na). It's easy, just sound it out! :P I've also come across a handful of teachers etc who cannot grasp the simple spelling! However, one of my pet hates is the shortening of my name to Lana, that's not my name so I don't answer to it!

-- AlanaK  8/19/2007

Whilst this name does have Irish origins, meaning 'attractive/peaceful', it is also a French variation of Helen, from the Hebrew, meaning 'tree' and also of Hawaiian origin, meaning 'offering' (feminine form of Alan).

-- Anonymous User  1/22/2008

Alana comes from the Irish A leanbh or A leanna which is how you call a child to you.

-- osullin  2/19/2008

This is my cousin's name and it is pronounced Ah-lah-Na. I think the Ah-lan-a version is a bit more Americanized, as I've never heard it said that way in Australia.

What I find weird about my cousin, is the fact our grandad and uncle are both Alan. So unless my aunt did it after them, which I doubt, I find it a bit odd.

-- Miss-Rory  5/23/2008

In Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness, Alana of Trebond is a girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to become a knight.

-- sweetkit  6/22/2008

Canadian actress Teryl Rothery has a daughter Jean Alana, born 3rd October 2008 at 5:26 PM.

-- Emilie007  12/1/2008

Please, stop saying Alana is an Irish name. And it burns my eyes every time I see the word "Gaelic" used to refer to the Irish language - in Ireland, we play Gaelic! Gaelic means Gaelic football, not Irish language. The proper Irish word for our language is Gaeilge, by the way.
Well, yes, usage of this name in Ireland has been inspired by "álainn" which means "beautiful" in Irish. However, that still doesn't make it an Irish name. Alana is simply an ENGLISH feminine form of a Alan, a Breton name, and its real meaning doesn't go beyond the meaning of Alan - "little rock" or "handsome".

-- Anonymous User  5/2/2009

I've never heard of the English name Alana. The Irish name, usually spelled 'Alannah', does not come from Alan or álainn, but from the common term of endearment 'a leanbh'. This literally means 'my baby' but is used to mean 'my dear' or 'my darling', usually to a younger person. It is pronounced 'a lan-uv' in some parts of Ireland, but in Ulster is pronounced (approximately) 'a lan-u' - which was shortened and probably anglicized to alannah. Many people still use it as an endearment, as in "don't worry, a leanbh (alannah), it will be alright". It's a bit like 'Macushla' - mo chúisle; Irish emigrants brought it overseas, and people liked the sound and meaning of it.

-- Anonymous User  5/5/2009

When I saw a tv coverage about the Beslan school hostage crisis there was a story told about a family with two children to be held hostage. They were named Alan and Alana. Both survived.

I have no further information if either Alana or Alan are common names in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania or anywhere else in East Europe. But I agree with the parents of one of the above posters who did choose Alana as a name for their daughter that would go with an East European sounding last name.

-- Swiff  9/17/2009

Key: Meaning/History Usage Pronunciation Famous Bearer Personal Impression Other

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