Anica
Feminine · “favor”
The South Slavic languages make a name affectionate by adding -ica, and they do it constantly. Ana becomes Anica, Marija becomes Marica, Katarina becomes Katica — and the results are not nicknames so much as complete names, given at birth and used for a lifetime. Anica is entirely standard in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia.
How old is the name Anica?
Anica first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Anica alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 1,100 people named Anica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anica most popular?
Anica peaked in 1975, reaching #2357 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 12,585 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Channah to Anica
The story of Anica
Anna spread across Orthodox and Catholic Europe alike and became one of the base names of the whole continent. What each language did with it differed: Poland made Anka and Ania, the Netherlands made Anneke, and the South Slavic languages made Anica and Anja. Those diminutives became independent, and Anica appears on Slovenian and Croatian birth certificates as a full name. American records carry it from 1970 in small numbers, arriving with families from that region.
Meaning
favor, grace
The meaning belongs to Ana, from the Greek form of the Hebrew Channah, favor or grace. The -ica ending is a diminutive suffix and carries affection rather than sense. Ana is among the most-used women's names across the Balkans, so the diminutives built on it are correspondingly numerous.
How the name formed
- Channah
- Anna
- Ana
- Anica
Related forms: Anica · Anica · Anica · Anica
Pronouncing Anica
AH-neet-sah
Three syllables, stress on the first. The c in South Slavic languages is a ts, as it is in Czech and Polish — so the middle of the name is nothing like the k or s an English reader expects.
Nicknames for Anica
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 200139 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2357reached in 1975
- Change vs 2024
- −54.5%5 in 2025, from 11
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.
Anica in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Anica in Slovene — same name
- Anica in Croatian — same name
- Anica in Serbian — same name
- Anica in Romanian — same name
Anicas among us
people named Anica are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Anica
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Anica
- #14942
- Anica on the 2025 chart
- #497
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Anica went to 5 girls in 2025, but Anika, Annika and Aanika and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 539, which makes it the 497th most-given girls’ name of the year — 14,445 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 2,982 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 321,453 for Anica itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Valora test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anica's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Valora climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Valora's path sketches the road Anica is walking now.
Anica 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
Anica beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anica in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a standard name in four countries rather than a variation on one.
- Ana and Nica are both usable and belong to different registers.
- Five letters, three open syllables, and easy in any accent once the c is settled.
- The base name behind it is among the most documented in the world.
- The c is a ts in every language the name is native to, and English readers will say a k or an s.
- Anika, Anneka and Annica all sit close by and will be written instead.
- The ending is a diminutive by construction, which someone will eventually point out.
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What they receive
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Anica
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anicas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Anica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Anica?
- Anica is one of 5 recorded spellings. Anika is the more common one — 269 births in 2025 against 5 for Anica.
- How popular is the name Anica in 2025?
- Anica ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anica?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Anica — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anica with classmates?
- Anica will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anica
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anica? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anica and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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