Nonna

This name should have a different etymology from the one listed, as its use in Russia first started in honour of the Cappadocian (i.e. Anatolian) saint Nonna of Nazianzus (4th century AD): [noted -ed]

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• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonna_of_Nazianzus (in English; also see the Russian version)

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Some (but not all) Russian sources also make a distinction between Nona and Nonna:

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• Нона (Nona): https://imya.com/name/11895 (in Russian)
• Нонна (Nonna): https://imya.com/name/11897 (in Russian)
• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0 (in Russian; this is about the name Nonna)
• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0 (in Russian; states that Nona is a derivative or variant of Nonna)
• Nona meaning "nine": https://heraldry.sca.org/names/paul/n.html (in English)
• Nonna meaning "God-blessed, clean, light": https://heraldry.sca.org/names/paul/n.html (in English)
• http://kurufin.ru/html/Rus_names/rus_n.html (in Russian; scroll down until you see "Nonna" in one of the columns on the right)
• http://kurufin.ru/html/Translate/nonn.html (in Russian)

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In addition to this, the Roman goddess Nona is known as Нона (Nona) in Russian, not Нонна (Nonna):

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• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0_(%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%8F) (in Russian)

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Nonna and its masculine equivalent Nonnos/Nonnus should be of either Anatolian, Egyptian, Greek or Semitic origin (most likely Syriac):

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• https://www.trismegistos.org/name/7200 and https://www.trismegistos.org/name/10784 (both in English)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonnus_(disambiguation) (in English; the bearers listed are Egyptian and Semitic)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nonnus#Name (in English; "the name Nonnus was a Levantine one [...] of an Egyptian title equivalent to "saint")
• Greek νόννος (nonnos) meaning "father": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BD%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82 (in English)

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ნონა (Nona) is the Georgian form of Nonna. Georgian sources state that Nonna is of Egyptian origin and means "dedicated to God" or "sacrificed to God":

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• http://kids.ge/baby-name?id=187 (in Georgian)
• see the entry for Nona: https://web.archive.org/web/20130130185205/http://name.interes.ge/dreams.php?action=search&by=%E1%83%9C&nr_page=2 (in Georgian; the entry's own page unfortunately was not archived)
• see the entry for Nona: http://www.geogen.ge/ge/wsearch/4316/ (in Georgian; this website copied the complete entry of the prior link)
• http://www.orthodoxy.ge/sakhelebi/ka/d_nari.htm (in Georgian; this is a list of female saints whose name starts with N)

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All in all, it is much more likely that Nonna is NOT of Latin origin. It does not even make sense for the Latin name Nona to gain an -n- in other languages (such as Russian). Only the reverse makes sense, i.e. Nonna loses an -n- and subsequently gets confused with the Latin name Nona.

It's very close to the German word 'Nonne' which means 'nun'. It's also the Italian word for 'grandmother'.

Also means 'Grandmother' in Italian.