Daphna as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Daphna

What is the meaning of the name Daphna ?

The baby name Daphna is a Female name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced DAF-nah (IPA: /ˈdæf.nə/).

Daphna is Hebrew in Origin.

Daphna is a Hebrew feminine name from דפנה (Dafna), the Modern Hebrew word for the laurel or bay tree. The term is a learned borrowing from Greek daphnē, familiar from the nymph Daphne who became the laurel to elude Apollo. As in antiquity, the laurel signifies victory, honor, and poetic inspiration, giving Daphna connotations of triumph and protection.

The name took hold in Israel in the mid-20th century alongside other nature-derived given names, and it remains far less common than Daphne in English-speaking countries, where it is often recognized as an Israeli or Jewish variant. Forms and spellings include Dafna (Hebrew), Daphne (English/French), Daphné (French), Dafne (Italian/Spanish), and Dafni (Modern Greek). While not directly variant, Laura and Laurel are semantic relatives through the same laurel symbolism. Overall, Daphna offers a compact, international twist on the classical Daphne.