Alana

ah-LAH-nah

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The name Alana means “awakening, fair one, precious.” It comes from the Hawaiian language tradition.

In Hawaiian, Alana means awakening or offering, connected to the dawn and spiritual arousal. The name also has Celtic roots meaning 'dear child.' Its dual heritage has made it beloved globally, carrying the warmth of Hawaiian sunshine and the tenderness of Celtic endearment simultaneously.

The retrieved Wiktionary entries are fragmentary but point to more than one source: one glosses Alana as a feminine form of Alan, matching Wikipedia's account of it as a Latinized feminine of that name; a separate entry, in a language not identified in the retrieved text, glosses a word alana as awakening, and notes that its modern use has been reinforced by the given name. A third Wiktionary sense records a nineteenth-century rendering of an unspecified nickname. The dear child gloss sometimes given for the name is not supported by any of these.

Its use as a standalone given name is, per every source retrieved, comparatively modern — none records use before the nineteenth century.

• Alana Blanchard (Hawaiian professional surfer)
• Alana de la Garza (American actress)

Sibling names that share Alana's rhythm and register without echoing it too closely.