Liana is the name of a type of long-stemmed wooded vines that grows in the jungle, derived from Middle French lien (to bind) via Latin ligo (to bind) which derives from PIE root word *leyǵ- (to bind, tie). Liana is also derived as a short form of names ending in -liana such as Eliana (a possibly a variant of Aeliana, the feminine form of Aelius, a Roman family name of uncertain meaning though possibly derived from Greek helios “sun”), Juliana (the feminine form of Julian derived from Julius, a name of uncertain meaning though it could possibly be derived from Greek ioulos meaning “downy-bearded”, or it could be related to Latin Iuppiter (Jupiter), the name of the chief god in the Roman pantheon. His name is derived from Indo-European *Dyeus-pater, pater meaning “father” while Dyeus meaning “shine” or “sky”), or Liliana, another form of Lillian which either originated as a diminutive of Elizabeth meaning “my God is an oath” or “my God is abundance”, or an elaborated form of Lily.
Liana could also be a variant spelling of Liyana, an Arabic female name meaning “soft, tender, gentle, delicate” from root word l-y-n (to become soft, tender); Liyana is also a Zulu female name derived from a word meaning “it is raining/it’s raining”. I’ve also seen it listed as a Chinese female name meaning “beautiful + elegant, graceful, refined + graceful, elegant” with the Chinese characters (丽雅娜).
Origin: Proto-Indo-European, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Arabic, Zulu, Chinese
Variants:
- Liyana (Arabic, Zulu, Chinese)
- Leanna (English)
- Leana (English)
- Lianna (English)
- Liane (German)
- Lianne (English)
- Lyanna (English)
- Lyana (English)
Names Throughout the Ages 