Meaning and background
The story behind Jonah
Jonah comes from Hebrew Yona, associated with the dove. Its biblical story concerns the prophet swallowed by a fish, so the bird-word meaning and the narrative association are separate details rather than competing translations. The cited English reading has two syllables with the stress at the beginning. For an owner, Jonah may be a personal tribute, a religious choice or simply an appealing call. The dove connection can suggest peace symbolically, but it does not establish that a dog will have a calm disposition.
- Origin
- Hebrew name associated with the dove. Source
Try Jonah out loud
Everyday moments“Jonah, come here!”
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About Jonah
Recorded as a dog’s name
Jonah appears in 7 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/dʒoʊnə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/dʒoʊnə/ · primary stress on syllable 1JH OW1 N AH0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.