Entry № 11508 · Sioux origin

Wenona Wenona — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ weh-NOH-nah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Sioux
Meaning
"First-born daughter"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Ancient (Sioux)

A name that means "first-born daughter".

Wenona (also Winona) is a Dakota/Lakota Sioux name traditionally given to the first-born daughter. It means "first-born daughter." Winona Ryder (born 1971), the American actress, was named for the city of Winona, Minnesota.

Wenona is rising as Indigenous naming traditions are revived.

First-born daughter. The Sioux birth-order name.

The name in its native script.

Wenona
Transliteration
Wenona
Pronunciation
/ wəˈnoʊ.nə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Wenona stands.

Wenona does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Wenonas before her.

Real people
Winona Ryder
American actress.
born 1971
In fiction
Wenona
Common in Sioux legend.

Names connected to Wenona.

The number behind Wenona.

9

The Giver

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Wenona reduce to 9, The Giver. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.