Head to head · Girls' names
Adhara vs Anya
#370 vs #375 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Adhara is a whisker ahead (#370 vs #375 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Adhara and Anya each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1940s: Adhara —, Anya #4993 — Anya higher
- 1950s: Adhara —, Anya #4579 — Anya higher
- 1960s: Adhara —, Anya #2896 — Anya higher
- 1970s: Adhara —, Anya #1864 — Anya higher
- 1980s: Adhara —, Anya #1238 — Anya higher
- 1990s: Adhara —, Anya #1313 — Anya higher
- 2000s: Adhara —, Anya #451 — Anya higher
- 2010s: Adhara #10063, Anya #526 — Anya higher
- 2020s: Adhara #1977, Anya #482 — Anya higher
Anya stood higher in every recorded decade — 9 of 9.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Adhara | Anya |
|---|---|---|
| 1940s | — | #4993 |
| 1950s | — | #4579 |
| 1960s | — | #2896 |
| 1970s | — | #1864 |
| 1980s | — | #1238 |
| 1990s | — | #1313 |
| 2000s | — | #451 |
| 2010s | #10063 | #526 |
| 2020s | #1977 | #482 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Adhara
the maidens, from Arabic al-ʿadhārā
ʿadhārā is the plural of ʿadhrāʾ, maiden or virgin. The plural referred to a group of stars in that part of the sky, and the name later attached to just the brightest of them.
al-ʿadhārā (Arabic asterism name) → Adhara (Latinized star name in medieval European astronomy) → Adhara (given name)
How it traveled
The name belongs first to a star: Epsilon Canis Majoris, blazing at the hind leg of the Great Dog. Arab astronomers of the medieval period named a cluster of stars there al-ʿadhārā, the maidens, and when Arabic astronomical works were translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, dozens of such names crossed into European use in half-Latinized form — Adhara among them.
Anya
"Grace, favor" through Anna — but a second, unrelated road exists
Most Anyas in the US arrive through Russian Ан<200b>я, the pet form of Anna, which goes back through Greek and Latin Anna to Hebrew Ḥannah, "grace, favor". Separately, anya is a Sanskrit word meaning "other, different", and Anya is used as a given name in India along that line. Neither reading is a guess; they are simply two different names that meet at one spelling.
Ḥannah → Anna → Аня (Anya) → Anya
How it traveled
Anna reached the Slavic world the way it reached most of Europe — through the Greek Bible and the church — and Russian, which loves to shorten and soften, made it Аня for everyday use. That diminutive traveled outward with emigration and with translation: English-language readers met it in Russian novels and their subtitles long before American parents began giving it as a full name.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Adhara
ah-DAH-rah
Spanish speakers say it with three even, open vowels and a plain d — the h is silent. In English you will also hear uh-DAR-uh, and some readers try ad-HAR-uh on first sight. Saying it once usually settles it.
- Ada — Informal short form; also a long-established given name in its own right across English, German and Spanish.
- Dara — Takes the stressed middle syllable; stands alone as a given name in Irish and Hebrew traditions.
- Addie — Informal, English-language; shared with Adelaide, Adeline and Addison, so it says less about the full name.
- Ari — Informal, drawn loosely from the sound rather than the spelling; used in both Spanish- and English-speaking families.
Anya
AHN-yah
AHN-yah is the usual American pronunciation, following the Russian. Some families say AN-yah, with the flat a of "pan". The Irish name Áine lands on a similar sound, AWN-ya, but is a separate name with its own history.
- Ani — The most common trim in English-speaking use; informal, mostly spoken rather than written.
- Annie — Borrowed back from the Anna side of the family; also a standalone given name in its own right.
- Nya — Informal clipping used among peers; also exists independently as a given name.
- Anyushka — Russian affectionate extension, used within families rather than in official settings.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Adhara if you want…
- a name on the way upup 5,322 places on the charts in five years
Choose Anya if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Anya from Adhara.
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Adhara
Strengths
- Anchored to a real, named star with a documented Arabic origin — an answer to "where does it come from" that holds up.
- Works in both Spanish and English without changing spelling, which matters in the states where it is most used.
- Short forms already exist and are familiar: Ada and Dara are both established names on their own.
To consider
- The dh will cost some spelling. Adara is the form many people default to, and the h gets dropped in writing more often than it gets added.
- Two pronunciations circulate — the Spanish ah-DAH-rah and an anglicized uh-DAR-uh. Neither is wrong, but a child may spend a lifetime choosing which one to correct.
- It is climbing quickly. A child born now may be the only Adhara in the building, and still meet several by the time she finishes school.
Anya
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and readable at a glance — four letters, no silent parts, and the stress falls where an English reader expects.
- Already a complete name rather than a shortening, so it needs no nickname while still having several available.
- Recognized across Russian, Polish, German and Indian naming traditions, which makes it travel and translate easily.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate, AHN-yah and AN-yah, so expect to correct people occasionally — or to accept both.
- The spelling competes with Anja, Ania and Ann<200b>a in people's ears; over a lifetime she will spell it out fairly often.
- In Hungarian, anya is the ordinary word for "mother". Harmless in most of the world, but worth knowing if Hungarian is spoken in your family.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Adhara and Anya in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Adhara and Anya?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names that didn't exist a generation ago
- Names predicted to enter the top 100 by 2030
- Names with only one spelling
- Names ending in -ra
- all guides
Where Adhara and Anya each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Adhara or Anya — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Adhara or Anya?
- Adhara, in 2025: Adhara ranked #370 with 829 babies; Anya ranked #375 with 821 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Adhara or Anya?
- Adhara. Over the last five years Adhara moved up 5,322 places; Anya moved up 282 places.
- Which is the older name, Adhara or Anya?
- Adhara entered the US charts in 2013; Anya entered the US charts in 1943. On the American record, Anya is the older name.
- How many people are named Adhara and Anya?
- About 2,100 people named Adhara are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 20,500 people named Anya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Adharas or Anyas in the classroom?
- Adhara will almost certainly be the only one in school. Anya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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