Ariana (name)

Pronunciation	ær.iˈæn.ə, ær.iˈɒ.nə
Gender	Female
Word/name	Avestan, or Greek, or Welsh
Meaning	The land of Aryans
Region of origin	Bactria
See also	Ari, Aria, Anna, Ariona, Ariane, Arianne, Arieana, Areanna, Arionna, Arriana, Aryonna, Aryanna, Arianna, Arihyona, Aryana, Ariadna, Ariadne, Arieanna, Aireanna, Ariya, Aryia

Ariana is a feminine Avestan name, popular in many languages. Arianna and Ariane are the two most common variations.

The name Ariana has the several possible following origins.

Ariana, the Latinized form of (Greek: /Arianē), was also a general geographical term used by some Greek and Roman authors of ancient period for a district of wide extent in Central Asia, comprising the eastern part of the Persian empire, now all of Afghanistan and a part of Iran and southeast of Tajikistan. The name of Iran (Persia) originates from Persian word Aryānā (Ariana) meaning "The Land of the Aryans".

The name Arianna is also the Latinized form of the name Ariadne (Greek: Ἀριάδνη; Latin: Ariadna; "most holy", Cretan Greek αρι [ari] "most" and αδνος [adnos] "holy"), the daughter of Minos, King of Crete, and his queen Pasiphaë, daughter of Helios, the Sun-titan, from Greek mythology.

Ariana was first used in the English speaking world in the nineteenth century. It is also sometimes treated as a Welsh name, an elaboration of Welsh: arian “silver.”

In the United States, the name Ariana was listed as the 78th most popular name for babies in 2006, with Arianna at 77.

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