Mina (given name)

Mina is a given name with a variety of origins, used as a feminine name in some cultures and a masculine name in others. In English-speaking countries, these names may be variously shortened sometimes as Mimi, Mimosa, and Mims.

Egypt

Mina (Egyptian Arabic: مينا; pronounced [ˈmiːnæ]), also transcribed Mena or Meena, is a male given name for Egyptians, mostly Egyptian Christians, a modern corruption of the ancient Egyptian name Meni.

• Mina (fl. c. 3100 BC), a.k.a. Menes, legendary Egyptian ruler
• St. Mina (Saint Menas; fl. 3rd century AD), Coptic religious leader (martyr)

Japanese

Mina is a Japanese feminine given name. It may be written various ways in kanji, including 美奈, 美那, and 未菜.^[1]

• Mina Asami (born 1958), Japanese actress
• Mina Fukui (born 1984), Japanese actress
• Mina Harigae (born 1989), Japanese golfer
• Mina Matsushima (born 1991), Japanese swimmer
• Mina Ōba (born 1992), Japanese singer and actress

Korean

Mina, Meena, and Minah are various Roman alphabet spellings of two homophonous Korean feminine given names with different hangul spellings. The meaning differs based on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name.

For the name Min-a (민아), there are 27 hanja with the reading "min" and 20 hanja with the reading "a" on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be used in given names.^[2]

• Shim Mina (born 1972), South Korean singer
• Shin Min-a (born 1981), South Korean television actress
• Bang Minah (born 1993), South Korean singer, member of Girl's Day
• Kwon Mina (born 1993), South Korean singer, member of AOA
• Justine Mina Ok (fl. 2000s), Korean American songwriter

For the name Mi-na (미나), there are 31 hanja with the reading "mi" and 16 hanja with the reading "na" on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be used in given names.^[2]

• Son Mi-Na (born 1964), South Korean handball player
• Meena Lee (born 1981), South Korean golfer

Persian

Mina (Persian: مینا‎) is a female given name in Iran, meaning "azure", "glass bead", or "enamel".^[3]

• Mina Assadi (born 1943), Iranian poet
• Mina Nouri (born 1951), Iranian painter
• Mina Ahadi (born 1956), Iranian politician
• Mina Hadjian (born 1975), Iranian-born Norwegian television host

Pashto

Mina (Pashto: مینا‎) means "love" in Pashto, another Indo-Iranic language spoken in Afghanistan and Northwestern regions of Pakistan.^[4]

• Meena Keshwar Kamal (1956–1987), Afghan women's rights activist

Other

Mina can be a short form of the feminine names Wilhelmina or Hermina.

• Mina Loy (1882–1966), English poet
• Mina Karadžić, Serbian 19th century poet
• Mina (singer) (born 1940), Italian singer
• Mina Kostić (born 1969), Serbian folk singer
• Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki, Greek painter
• Mina Shum, Canadian filmmaker

Fictional

• Seong Mi-na, character from the Soul series of fighting video games
• Mina Harker (née Murray), character in Bram Stoker's Dracula
• Mina Harker, character in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• Mina Tepeş, character in Japanese manga series Dance in the Vampire Bund
• Mina Tsukishiro, character in Japanese anime series Getsumento Heiki Mina
• Mina Mongoose, female mongoose from comic series Sonic the Hedgehog
• Mina Majikina, character in video game Samurai Shodown
• Mina McKee, character in David Almond's children's book Skellig and its prequel My Name is Mina
• Yoo Mi-na, character in 2012 South Korean television series Time Slip Dr. Jin
• Mina Beff, character in Todd Kauffman's Grojband

See also

• Minna (name)
• Wilhelmina (disambiguation)
• Minnie (disambiguation)

References