Yana is a feminine given name of Slavic origin, particularly popular among Slavic-speaking countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. It is derived from the ancient Slavic word "yan" which means "graceful" or "elegant". The name Yana was first used in the 19th century but gained popularity during the Soviet era.
In the Russian language, Yana is pronounced as /ˈjɑnə/ with the stress on the second syllable. It has several diminutive forms such as Yanotchka (Яночка), Yanushka (Янушка), and Yanka (Янка).
Internationally, Yana may be considered unique due to its Slavic origin. However, it has gained some recognition globally, possibly due to the increasing popularity of Slavic culture and literature in recent years.
There are no widely recognized international variations of Yana, though some may spell it as Jana or Yanah depending on translation preferences. In the Cyrillic alphabet used by many Slavic languages, Yana is written as Яна.
Over the span of nearly seven decades, the name Yana experienced significant fluctuations in popularity, with a marked increase in recent years. The highest number of births recorded for this name was in 2022 and 2023, with both years seeing 104 births each. This indicates that Yana has gained considerable traction as a baby girl's name in the current era. However, it is notable that there were no recorded births with the name Yana from 1967 to 1976, suggesting that it may have been less popular during this period. Despite these fluctuations, Yana has maintained some level of popularity over time, with a total of 2488 births recorded since 1955.