Winona

Wi·no·na
W4I1N1O1N1A1
/wɪˈnoʊnə/

proper noun

A female given name from Dakota, used mainly in the United States.

Less commonScrabble 9

Meanings

proper nounWinona (plural Winonas)

plural Winonas · alternative Wenona · alternative Wenonah · alternative Wynona

  1. A female given name from Dakota, used mainly in the United States.
    1 more example

    I've met the full Clairol spectrum of Winonas, and I have come to recognize them the way you might watch for pretty little coral snakes in Florida. Isn't that sweet? you think—until it bites you and you die. Just like those pretty little snakes, Winona talks in a sort of a soft and wispy hiss and tells you how confused she is […]

    2001, Julia Cameron, God Is No Laughing Matter
  2. A number of places in the United States.
    1. A locality in Coconino County, Arizona.
    2. A city, the county seat of Winona County, Minnesota.

      Eight Flock cameras that were stolen across Winona will not be replaced, the city’s police department announced on Wednesday.

      2026 August 12, Kyle Brown, “Winona won’t replace Flock cameras after thefts took all of the city’s devices offline”, in KSTP-TV, archived from the original on 13 Aug 2026

Origin

  1. Proto-Siouan*rǫ
  2. Dakotawinúŋna“firstborn daughter”
  3. EnglishWinona

From Dakota winúŋna (“firstborn daughter”). While not originally used as a personal name by the Dakota, it has been adopted as such by English speakers. John Koontz suggested that the name was a compound of wi- (“female”) + no (“first”) + -na (a diminutive suffix) and thus a reflex of Proto-Siouan *rǫ/*nǫ (“one”). That root is otherwise unattested in the Sioux languages, which use reflexes of *wį(y)ą (“one”) instead, and a more prosaic analysis identifies the first elements of the name with winyan (“woman”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Winona

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Winona. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Winona

MLA

“Winona.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Winona. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Winona,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Winona.

Source: Winona on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.