Head to head · Girls' names
Chana vs Coraline
#686 vs #683 in 2025 · Hebrew vs Greek roots · both holding its place on the charts
Coraline is a whisker ahead (#683 vs #686 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. 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: Chana and Coraline 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: Chana #4118, Coraline — — Chana higher
- 1950s: Chana #2524, Coraline — — Chana higher
- 1960s: Chana #1456, Coraline — — Chana higher
- 1970s: Chana #1077, Coraline #7070 — Chana higher
- 1980s: Chana #890, Coraline — — Chana higher
- 1990s: Chana #1048, Coraline — — Chana higher
- 2000s: Chana #957, Coraline #10780 — Chana higher
- 2010s: Chana #810, Coraline #729 — Coraline higher
- 2020s: Chana #744, Coraline #694 — Coraline higher
Chana stood higher in 7 of 9 decades; Coraline has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Chana | Coraline |
|---|---|---|
| 1940s | #4118 | — |
| 1950s | #2524 | — |
| 1960s | #1456 | — |
| 1970s | #1077 | #7070 |
| 1980s | #890 | — |
| 1990s | #1048 | — |
| 2000s | #957 | #10780 |
| 2010s | #810 | #729 |
| 2020s | #744 | #694 |
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
Chana
grace, favor
From the Hebrew root ḥen, grace or favor — the same root behind the name Yochanan, and so behind John and Jane as well.
Ḥannah (Hebrew) → Chana → Anna (Greek) → Hannah → Anne
How it traveled
Chana is the Ashkenazi transliteration of the Hebrew חַנָּה, the name of the woman in the Book of Samuel who prayed silently at Shiloh and was given a son. When Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, the guttural first sound had no equivalent and was simply dropped — giving Anna, which traveled through Latin into nearly every European language as Anne, Ana, Hanna and Hannah.
Coraline
coral
The main reading takes it as a French diminutive of Coralie, from Latin corallium and Greek korallion, the coral of the Mediterranean. A second account ties it instead to Caroline: Neil Gaiman has said the name came to him as a mistyping of Caroline that he liked too much to correct. Both roads are real, and they arrive at the same spelling.
korallion (Greek) → corallium (Latin) → Coralie → Coraline
How it traveled
Coralie appears in French use from the nineteenth century, when coral ornaments were fashionable across Europe, and Coraline follows it as a diminutive on the same pattern that gives French Adeline beside Adele. The root runs back through Latin corallium to Greek korallion.
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
Chana
KHAH-nah
The ch is the guttural of Bach, challah and Chanukah, not the ch of chair. Many English speakers land on HAH-nah instead, which most bearers accept without correction.
- Chani — The standard short form in Orthodox and Hasidic communities, and often used as the everyday name from childhood on.
- Chanie — The same short form with a Yiddish-style spelling; both appear within the same families.
- Chana'le — Yiddish affectionate diminutive, used mostly by older relatives and in the home.
- Hana — A softened everyday form some bearers use with people who find the initial sound difficult.
Coraline
KOR-uh-line
KOR-uh-line, rhyming with the end of Caroline, is the usual American reading and the one used in the film. KOR-uh-leen also gets used, and French Coraline is closer to ko-ra-LEEN with the stress at the end. Worth deciding which you want, since both will be offered to you.
- Cora — The most used short form, and a long-established given name in its own right.
- Lina — Informal, taken from the back of the name; also a standalone name in several European languages.
- Cori — Casual spoken form, sometimes spelled Corrie or Cory.
- Coco — Household nickname rather than anything used on paper.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Chana if you want…
- a name on the way upup 96 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesChana is 2 syllables to Coraline's 3
Choose Coraline if you want…
- a name holding steadyCoraline is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itCoraline runs 3 syllables, Chana 2
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
Chana
Strengths
- Shares an origin with Hannah, Anna and Anne, so the meaning and the story are recognizable even to people meeting this spelling for the first time.
- Two clean syllables and four letters, easy to write early and easy to say once the opening sound is learned.
- Established short forms already in real use — Chani and Chanie — rather than ones a family would have to invent.
To consider
- The opening sound has no English equivalent. Outside communities that know it, expect a lifetime of gentle correcting — or of letting HAH-nah stand, which many bearers do.
- In the US this spelling is closely tied to Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish families. For many that is precisely the point; it is worth knowing it reads as a clear marker of identity.
- Chana is also the Hindi and Urdu word for chickpea, familiar from restaurant menus, and a Spanish short form of Susana. Neither causes real trouble, but both will occasionally come up.
Coraline
Strengths
- Cora comes ready-made as a short form and has a long independent record as a name of its own.
- Readable at first sight for English speakers — the pieces Cora and -line are both already familiar.
- Widely recognized through a well-known book and film, so it rarely needs spelling out from scratch.
To consider
- The Gaiman story is the association most people reach for, and it is a children's horror tale with button-eyed doubles in it. Many families love that; some would rather their daughter's name not arrive attached to a plot.
- Two pronunciations circulate — ending in -line or in -leen — so she will spend some of her life correcting people, whichever one you pick.
- In speech it sits close to Caroline and Coralie, and both will be written down by mistake now and then.
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 Chana and Coraline 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 Chana and Coraline?
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 than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Chana or Coraline — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Chana or Coraline?
- Coraline, in 2025: Coraline ranked #683 with 414 babies; Chana ranked #686 with 413 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Chana or Coraline?
- Chana. Over the last five years Chana moved up 96 places; Coraline moved down 36 places.
- Which is the older name, Chana or Coraline?
- Chana entered the US charts in 1944; Coraline entered the US charts in 1970. On the American record, Chana is the older name.
- How many people are named Chana and Coraline?
- About 13,500 people named Chana are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 6,700 people named Coraline are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Chanas or Coralines in the classroom?
- Chana will almost certainly be the only one in school. Coraline 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Chana, Coraline and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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