FastNamesAnna
Hebrew name meaning "Latin and Greek form of the Hebrew personal name Channah (חַנָּה), meaning 'favor', 'grace', or 'compassion'.". Ranked 107th for girls in 2025.
Meaning and origin of Anna
Latin and Greek form of the Hebrew personal name Channah (חַנָּה), meaning 'favor', 'grace', or 'compassion'.
Linguistically, Anna is classified under Hebrew naming traditions. It is typically pronounced "AN-uh".
Popularity and ranking
In official US Social Security birth records from 1880 through 2025, Anna has been given to a total of 914,859 girls. It has also been given to 2,756 boys.
Peak year: Anna reached its highest relative share among girls in 1885, when 3,994 babies received the name (30,018 per million births).
All-time best rank: 2nd place, first achieved in 1880.
Recent standing (2025): Ranked 107th with 2,521 births. Ten years earlier in 2015, it ranked 44th (down 63 spots).
Busiest decade: More girls were named Anna in the 1920s than in any other decade (123,895 births).
| Decade | Recorded births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 38,159 |
| 1890s | 55,261 |
| 1900s | 54,918 |
| 1910s | 118,998 |
| 1920s | 123,895 |
| 1930s | 66,598 |
| 1940s | 41,282 |
| 1950s | 41,701 |
| 1960s | 40,935 |
| 1970s | 37,813 |
| 1980s | 57,327 |
| 1990s | 78,595 |
| 2000s | 90,325 |
| 2010s | 51,326 |
| 2020s | 17,726 |
Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
Where Anna is most common in the US
Accounting for when Anna was in fashion nationally, it has been most heavily concentrated in the following states (measured against the expected rate from each state's births):
- Alaska: 2.0 times the national rate (1,563 births since 1910).
- Pennsylvania: 1.8 times the national rate (85,876 births since 1910).
- Kentucky: 1.6 times the national rate (25,044 births since 1910).
- Delaware: 1.5 times the national rate (2,116 births since 1910).
- Rhode Island: 1.5 times the national rate (4,321 births since 1910).
Source: Social Security Administration, baby names by state, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a state in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
How many people have the name Anna?
About 440,000 living American girls and women share the name Anna. Additionally, an estimated 1,100 living American boys and men share the name.
The median age of an American named Anna is 34 years old.
Estimated from Social Security Administration records (1880–2025) and official SSA cohort mortality tables.
History of the name Anna
Anna represents the classical Latin and Greek rendering (Greek Ἄννα) of the ancient Hebrew feminine personal name Channah (חַנָּה). Derived from the Northwest Semitic triliteral verbal root ḥ-n-n (חָנַן), signifying 'to be gracious', 'to show favor', or 'to stoop in kindness', Anna conveys the profound spiritual meaning of divine favor, unmerited grace, and merciful elegance. Through the Septuagint and Greek New Testament, the name was permanently established across the Mediterranean basin.
In Christian tradition, Saint Anna (Anne) is revered as the mother of the Virgin Mary, a venerable figure whose widespread veneration fostered immense popularity throughout the Byzantine Empire and medieval Western Europe. In the Gospel of Luke, Anna is an elderly prophetess who recognizes the infant Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. The name was adopted by Byzantine empresses, Russian empresses (notably Empress Anna Ioannovna), and European queens consort, as well as inspiring Leo Tolstoy's tragic nineteenth-century masterpiece Anna Karenina.
In the United States, Anna stands as one of the most enduring, perennial classics in demographic history. It ranked in the national top twenty every single year from 1880 through 1920, and maintained exceptional consistency across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, never falling outside the national top one hundred and twenty for over 140 consecutive years. Admired for its symmetrical four-letter palindrome, clean simplicity, and international timelessness, Anna remains a cornerstone of American nomenclature.
Notable people named Anna
- Anna Kendrick (1985–), American Academy Award-nominated actress and singer known for Pitch Perfect
- Anna Pavlova (1881–1931), Russian prima ballerina of the Imperial Russian Ballet and Ballets Russes
- Anna Freud (1895–1982), Austrian-British psychoanalyst and pioneer of child psychoanalysis
- Anna Nicole Smith (1967–2007), American model, actress, and television personality
Variants and related names
Spelling variants
Diminutives and nicknames
Related names
Sources and references
- E. G. Withycombe. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (1977), p. 24.
- Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names (2006), p. 16.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), p. 337.