Ananias
Masculine · “the Lord is gracious”
Ananias is the Greek of Hananiah — the Lord is gracious — and the New Testament gives the name to a man struck dead for lying.
How old is the name Ananias?
Ananias first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Ananias alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 800 people named Ananias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ananias most popular?
Ananias peaked in 1883, reaching #892 nationally. Today it ranks #2451, 1,559 places below that high. See the whole 1883 chart.
Where it comes from
From chanan Yah to Ananias
The story of Ananias
Acts 5 has Ananias and Sapphira sell property, hold back part of the price, lie about it, and drop dead one after the other — which gave English 'ananias' as a word for a liar. A different Ananias baptizes Paul two chapters later. The name is in current American use.
Meaning
the Lord is gracious
From the Hebrew Chananyah — chanan, 'to be gracious', and Yah, the divine name — through the Greek Ananias. The same Hebrew root gives Hannah and John. The Hebrew is transparent and the reading undisputed.
How the name formed
- chanan Yah
- Chananyah
- Ananias
Related forms: Ἀνανίας · Chananyah · Ananías
Pronouncing Ananias
an-uh-NY-us
Four syllables, stress on the third. Spanish Ananías stresses the same syllable.
Nicknames for Ananias
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 202555 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #892reached in 1883
- Change vs 2023
- +34.1%55 in 2025, from 41
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ananias in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ἀνανίας in Greek — transliteration
- Chananyah in Hebrew — related form
- Ananías in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Ananiass among us
people named Ananias are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 31,056 born in 2025 was named Ananias
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Ananias sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ananias is headed
Ananias looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 15% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ananias beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ananias in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Lord-is-gracious meaning is transparent and warm.
- That the same name belongs to a liar and to Paul's baptiser is a genuinely good tension.
- Ana is available as a short form with an enormous record.
- The best-known bearer is struck dead for lying, and the name became a word for a liar.
- Four syllables make it long for everyday use.
- It reads as strongly biblical.
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What they receive
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Ananias
Masculine · #2451 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ananiass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Ananias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ananias in 2025?
- Ananias ranks #2451 among US boy names in 2025, with 55 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ananias?
- About 1 in every 31,056 US boys born in 2025 was named Ananias — 55 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ananias with classmates?
- Ananias will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ananias
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zaydan#2451 · Zaxton#2451 · Sebastien#2451 · Yuvraj#2451 · Zyir#2451 · Raymundo#2451 · Ike#2451 · Keelan#2451
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ananias? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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