Mona is a female, and sometimes male, given name and a surname of multiple origins.
As a given name, Mona can have the following meanings and origins;
In northern Europe, where the name is much more popular, Mona is interpreted as a diminutive of Monika or, rarely, of Ramona or Simona. It is sometimes associated with the title of Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa, although in that context the word Mona is actually a title rather than a name. The word mona also means cute, monkey and doll in Spanish. In Sweden, Mona's name day is May 4.
Mona was a relatively popular given name in the United States in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s. The highest ranking it ever reached in the US was #230, in 1950.
Mona Barthel (born 1990), German professional tennis player
Mona Charen (born 1957), American columnist and political analyst
Mona Ghoneim (born 1955), Egyptian composer
Mona Grudt (born 1971), former Miss Universe from Norway
Mona Hatoum (born 1952), British artist of Palestinian origin
Mona Hofland (born 1929), Norwegian actress
Mona Mahmudnizhad (1965-1983), Iranian teen executed for membership in the Bahá'í faith
Mona Marshall (born 1947), American voice actress
Mona Sahlin (born 1957), Swedish politician
Mona Siddiqui (born 1963), British Muslim academic
Mona Simpson (born 1957), American novelist of Syrian and German descent
Mona von Bismarck (1897–1983) American socialite and fashion icon
Mona Zaki, Egyptian actress
Mona Karim, Lebanese actress
Mona Bergeron, main character in the 1985 French film Vagabond (Sans Toit ni Loi)
Mona Dearly, a character played by Bette Midler in the 2000 film Drowning Mona
Mona Mayfair, in several novels by Anne Rice
Mona McCluskey, main character in television sitcom of the same name
Mona Melendy, character in Elizabeth Enright's children's book series "The Melendy Quartet"
Mona Aamons Monzano, in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle
Mona Parker, the main character from the animated television series Mona the Vampire and the book of the same name
Mona Ramsey, from the Tales of the City books by Armistead Maupin
Mona Robinson, mother of Angela Bower in the television series Who's the Boss?
Mona Sax, in the Max Payne franchise
Mona Simpson (The Simpsons), Homer Simpson's estranged mother
Mona Stevens, in the novel Landfall: A Channel Story by Nevil Shute and the film adaptation
Mona Vanderwaal, in the Pretty Little Liars novel series
Mona, Ross Geller's girlfriend in the television series Friends, played by Bonnie Somerville
Mona, a young prostitute in the novel Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
Mona from the WarioWare series of video games
Maria Mona Keijzer (born 1968), Dutch politician
Monica Mona Mårtenson (1902-1956), Swedish film actress
Simeona Mona Pasquil (born 1962), American politician
As a surname, Mona can have two origins. In Italian and Greek, it is a feminine form of Moni which is a short form of Simone, the Italian form of Simon. In arabic countries, it is derived from the given name Muna, meaning " unreachable wishes". It is the plural form of the word Munia (مـُـنيه).
Notable people with the surname include:
Domenico Mona (1550-1602), Italian late-Renaissance painter
István Móna (1940-2010), Hungarian modern pentathlete and Olympic champion
Khwezi Mona (born 1992), South African rugby union player
