Ariana Ariana — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

Ariana has two parallel origins. In Italian, it is the female form of Arianus, ultimately from the Greek Ariadne — "most holy" — the Cretan princess of Greek mythology who helped Theseus through the labyrinth. In Welsh, it derives from arian, meaning "silver."

Ariana entered the U.S. top 1000 in 1979 and has been rising ever since. The singer Ariana Grande, a global pop superstar since the mid-2010s, has kept the name highly visible. Today it sits in the U.S. top 50.