Winona
- Pronunciation
- [Wi-no-na]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Sioux Name Meaning "Giving."
- Origin
- Native American
About the Name Winona
Winona is a name of Native American origin, drawn from the Sioux (Dakota) tradition, where it is often understood to mean "giving" and was traditionally bestowed on a firstborn daughter. That cultural heritage gives the name a deep sense of meaning and place, rooting it in a long and honored naming custom that connected a child's name directly to her place within the family.
As a given name, Winona has a gentle, three-syllable lilt and a warm, vintage character that has helped it feel newly fresh to contemporary ears alongside other revived classics. Its flowing rhythm and meaningful origin give it both softness and real substance, a rare and appealing combination. Recorded variants include Winnie and Wynnona, offering an affectionate, playful short form and an alternate spelling of the same melodic, heartfelt name.
Winona first entered the US Social Security top-1000 for girls in 2022 and has climbed quickly, reaching its peak in 2024 at rank #738 with 381 births — its strongest year yet. It ranked #880 in 2023 and #980 in 2022, showing clear upward momentum. Across its young run it already accounts for 957 recorded births, marking it as a meaningful, vintage-flavored name on a swift recent rise. It remains a meaningful, melodic choice with a warm, vintage character that feels freshly revived.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Winona
US Popularity History (2022–2025)
Annual US births named Winona by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 466 girls named Winona (girl rank #627 that year).
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Winona Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Winona the strongest states are Oregon, Minnesota, Iowa.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon | #485 | 33 |
| 2 | Minnesota | #567 | 76 |
| 3 | Iowa | #596 | 18 |
| 4 | Michigan | #598 | 62 |
| 5 | Colorado | #620 | 30 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | #647 | 70 |
| 7 | Washington | #658 | 47 |
| 8 | Illinois | #660 | 48 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | #676 | 65 |
| 10 | Indiana | #736 | 30 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia | #815 | 30 |
| 2 | Missouri | #752 | 24 |
| 3 | Indiana | #736 | 30 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | #676 | 65 |
| 5 | Illinois | #660 | 48 |
| 6 | Washington | #658 | 47 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | #647 | 70 |
| 8 | Colorado | #620 | 30 |
| 9 | Michigan | #598 | 62 |
| 10 | Iowa | #596 | 18 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Winona in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winnie | White Or Fair | Female | Celtic |
Looking for names like Winona?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Winona to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Winona against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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