Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US gambling) the point of nine in craps dice.

1926		Judge (NY) 91 July-Dec. 31: Nina from Madina - Point '9' in crap game.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Craps’ in Notebooks (1976) 59: [...] 8 Ada from Decatur 9 Nina with her hair down 10 Big Dick .
1937		Wash. Post 3 Oct. B8/6: A nine is ‘Nina from Palestina,’ at least in some circles where the boys kneel and not precisely in devotion.
1939		(con. WWI) P.G. Hart Hist. of 135th Aero Squadron 30: Neena, the blind-eyed girl from Neufchateau – please nine, dice.
1942		A.G. Phillips Victory in the Dust 58: ‘Nina from Argentina,’ he yelled. ‘Oh, you lucky, lucky Nina.’ He pressed [the dice] into the dirt before picking them up. ‘Nine, come again, nine.’.
1944		Slanguage Dict. Mod. Amer. Sl. 9: Carolina nine, nine on a pair of dice.
1950		Annals Amer. Acad. Political and Social Science CCLVIX 128/1: NINA or NINA FROM CAROLINA: Point nine in craps.
1958		Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 202: 9 – nina.
2002		‘The Lang. of Craps’ CasinoTips.org 🌐 NINE: ‘Center field,’ ‘center of the garden,’ ‘ocean liner niner,’ ‘Nina from Pasadena,’ ‘What shot Jesse James? A forty-five.’.
2004		‘Animated Dominoes, Dice’ at Old and Sold 🌐 Some of the best-known nicknames in dice are: [...] Ninety days, Nina: total of nine.