The name Dwanna first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1936:
- 1938: unlisted
- 1937: 7 baby girls named Dwanna
- 1936: 20 baby girls named Dwanna [debut]
- 1935: unlisted
- 1934: unlisted
Where did it come from?
A little girl who got hit by a train — and survived!
In October of 1933, a toddler named Dwanna Lee Newman — the daughter of Arvid and Tola Newman of Eureka, Utah — was struck by a train traveling at about 20 miles per hour.
The locomotive pilot knocked her 10 feet in the air, she alighted on the cross-ties exactly between the rails and the entire freight train passed over her. […] When picked up, she was found to be unconscious, but soon revived, and examination disclosed the fact that aside from a bump on forehead, she was uninjured.
Nearly three years later, in July of 1936, Dwanna’s story was featured in the nationally syndicated Ripley’s Believe It or Not newspaper panel.
Sadly, Dwanna died of pneumonia in late 1937, at the age of five. (Arvid and Tola went on to have two more children, daughters Linda Rae and Vicki Ann, in the 1940s.)
What are your thoughts on the baby name Dwanna?
P.S. Believe it or not, the weirdly similar name Dwala was also influenced by Believe It or Not…
Sources:
- Ripley, Bob. “Believe it or not.” Spokesman-Review 16 Jul. 1936: 13.
- Dwanna Lee Newman (1932-1937) – Find a Grave
- “Obituary: Tola V. Newman.” Deseret News 30 Aug. 2002.
- FamilySearch.org
- SSA
Image: Clipping from the Daily Colonist (16 Jul. 1936)