Dinah
2025 SSA
About Dinah
Dinah is a charming, underused Old Testament name with a rich literary and musical resume. In the Old Testament, Dinah was the beautiful daughter of Jacob and Leah and while some conflate her with the Biblical Adinah, they are in fact different figures.
Meaning "God will judge", Dinah is the heroine of the best-selling Anita Diamant novel The Red Tent, and is also a central character in the George Eliot novel Adam Bede, where she acts as a moral center. In the classic film The Philadelphia Story, Dinah is the heroine's sassy kid sister while it also appears in Alice in Wonderland as the name of Alice's kitten.
One important thing to note is that "Aunt Dinah" has been used as a racial stereotype, from the character of the cook in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. It may also sound too reminiscent of the American diner in some accents.
The name Dinah was adopted by two great singers: Dinah Washington (born Ruth) and Dinah Shore (born Frances).
Pronounced DY-nuh.
As of October 2026, Dinah ranked #4198 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #488 in 1955, Nameberry popularity #886.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #3,089 | 54 | 30.2 |
| 2015 | #2,896 | 60 | 33.6 |
| 2016 | #3,069 | 54 | 30.5 |
| 2017 | #3,163 | 51 | 29.5 |
| 2018 | #3,120 | 52 | 30.6 |
| 2019 | #3,682 | 41 | 24.4 |
| 2020 | #3,155 | 50 | 30.9 |
| 2021 | #3,222 | 50 | 30.5 |
| 2022 | #3,840 | 39 | 23.8 |
| 2023 | #3,782 | 40 | 24.9 |
| 2024 | #3,895 | 38 | 23.5 |
| 2025 | #4,198 | 34 | 21.2 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Dinah.
- Loretta
- Marion
- Frida
- Dolores
- Gwendolynn
- Jemima
- Marjorie
- Priscilla
- Velma
- Ethel
- Dora
- Augustine
- Marian
- Gretchen
- Francine
- Hilda
- Marguerite
- Portia
- Edna
- Lois
Dinah on lists
Famous Dinahs
- Dinah
Biblical daughter of Jacob
- Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones)
American singer
- Frances Rose "Dinah" Shore
American singer
- Dinah Beth Manoff
American actress
- Dinah Jane Milika Ilaisaane Hansen
singer of American girl group Fifth Harmony
- Dinah Lee (born Diane Marie Jacobs)
New Zealand pop singer
- Dinah Sheridan (born Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg)
English actress
- Dinah Pfizenmaier
German tennis player
- Dinah Cancer
stage name of vocalist Mary Ann Sims
- Dinah Barbara Christie
Canadian actress
- Dinah Maria Craik
English novelist
- Dinah Lenney
American actress
Dinah in pop culture
- Dinah
Alice's cat in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"
- Dinah Hunter
character in the Demon Headmaster books and television series
- Dinah Mannering
character in Enid Blyton's "The Island of Adventure"
- Dinah
the family cook in The Bobbsey Twins series
- Dinah Drake and Dinah Laurel Lance aka Black Canary
mother and daughter DC Comics characters
- Aunt Dinah
cook in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
- Dinah Lord
character in movie "The Philadelphia Story"
- Dinah
character in Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy"
- Dinah de La Baudraye
character in Balzac's "Comedie humaine"
- Mrs. Dinah Delacroix
formerly Diana Piggott (Dicey), character in Elizabeth Bowen's "The Little Girls" (1964)
- Miss Dinah Perfect
old lady given to table,rapping in Sheridan Le Fanu's "All in the Dark" (1866)
- Dinah Sachs
main character in Susanna Kaysen's "Asa, As I Knew Him" (1987)
- Dinah
character in anime "Sailor Moon"
- Dinah Marler
character on American soap "Guiding Light"
Variations & nicknames
- DineYiddish