| Pronunciation | English: /ˈtiːnə/ |
|---|---|
| Gender | Feminine |
| Origin | |
| Meaning | Diminutive for names ending in -tina |
| Other names | |
| Alternative spelling | Teena, Tena, Tiina, Tine |
Tina is a largely feminine given name that originated as a diminutive for names ending in -tina such as Christina. [1] Teena and Tena are modern English variant spellings of Tina. Tiina is an Estonian and Finnish variant. Tine is a Danish and Norwegian variant. Its masculine counterpart is Tino, Tin, or the Slovene Tine.
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The hypocorism Tina or Teena is also sometimes derived from the English word “tiny”, as was the case for American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer Tina Brooks (1932 – 1974), who was born Harold, or from the English slang term “teeny”, referring to a person who is of insignificant size, as was the case for British Victorian Shakespeare scholar and philologist Teena Rochfort-Smith (1861 – 1883), who was born Mary.
In the Arabic language, Tīnah (تينة) is a word that means "fig". [2] It is also the usual diminutive for the Georgian feminine name Tinatin.
