American singer and actress Dinah Shore — born Frances “Fanny" Rose Shore — passed away on February 24, 1994 at the age of 77.
Shore would often sing the popular song “Dinah” in her auditions, thus earning her the nickname “Dinah girl”, and eventually becoming her official stage name.
Another famous Dinah — Dinah Washington, born Ruth Jones — also picked this sweet classic as her stage name. The talented jazz vocalist was among the most popular Black artists of the 1950s, earning herself the title “Queen of the Blues”.
In addition to multiple real-life musical namesakes and the famous song, “Dinah”, the name has even more musical cred through the African-American folk song, “Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah”, also known as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”.
As more parents search for underused, offbeat vintage names for their babies, we think Dinah is ready to leave the kitchen and make its way into nurseries. A daughter of Leah and Jacob in the Old Testament, this Biblical classic has surprisingly yet to ever crack the US Top 500.
The correct pronunciation of Dinah in English, the one used by both Dinah Shore and Dinah Washington, has a long i as in fine and wine.
But many English speakers will pronounce this name with a long e sound in the first syllable, which is how it’s pronounced in Spanish, French, and other European languages. Here’s the Spanish pronunciation.
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