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Home › Baby Names Directory › Dineen

Dineen

♀ Girl

How to Pronounce Dineen

Pronounced dih-NEEN /dɪˈniːn/Medium

Meaning: Dineen comes from the Irish surname Ó Duinnín, from donn, 'brown, dark,' with a diminutive, roughly 'little dark one.' Used as a given name it reads as an Irish heritage pick with a soft -een ending familiar from Doreen and Maureen.Low

In 30 seconds: Dineen carries an Irish surname, Ó Duinnín, 'little dark one' (said 'dih-NEEN'). A rare heritage name that briefly appeared in the 1960s.
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Origin LowIrish
MeaningDineen comes from the Irish surname Ó Duinnín, from donn, 'brown, dark,' with a diminutive, roughly 'little dark one.' Used as a given name it reads as an Irish heritage pick with a soft -een ending familiar from Doreen and Maureen.
U.S. rank (1991)#13757 ↘ Falling
1991 U.S. births5 girls (0.00% of U.S. girls)
Peak year1964
Total births (all-time)≈ 430
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Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

peak 196419501991

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Dineen transfers the Irish surname Ó Duinnín, 'descendant of the little dark one,' to first-name use. It surfaced only briefly, peaking near 1964, and was always genuinely rare — borne by a few hundred girls across its whole run.

A Dineen from the peak is now in her early sixties. The name never spread and is not part of any current revival, but it fits the ongoing taste for Irish surnames as first names, from Quinn to Delaney.

Did you know? Dineen shares the -een music of Doreen, Noreen and Maureen — the wave of soft Irish endings that dressed up American girls' names in the mid-century.
Overall data confidence 50%
References — Dineen — Irish surname Ó Duinnín ('little dark one')

Variations

DoreenNoreenDeneen

Nicknames

DeeNina

Famous Bearers

  • Famous bearers coming soon.

If you like Dineen…

Doreen— a like -een Irish-flavored name of the same era
Noreen— shares the soft -een ending and Irish roots
Maureen— another mid-century Irish -een name
Kathleen— a like Irish girl's name of the period

Explore names like Dineen

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Dineen mean?

Dineen comes from the Irish surname Ó Duinnín, roughly 'little dark one.'

How do you pronounce Dineen?

It's said dih-NEEN /dɪˈniːn/ — two syllables, stress on the second.

Is Dineen a boy or girl name?

Dineen is used as a girl's name, drawn from an Irish surname.

How popular is Dineen?

Dineen is a genuinely rare name that had a brief flicker of use in the nineteen-sixties.

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