Anita
Masculine · “favor”
Anita is given to girls far more often — 215,165 girls against 684 boys since 1880. See Anita as a girl name
Anita is a Spanish diminutive that English adopted as a name in its own right, which is how a great many names arrive. It has been in the American record since records began, and it belongs to one of the sharpest comic novelists of the twentieth century.
How old is the name Anita?
Anita first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Anita alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 400 people named Anita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anita most popular?
Anita peaked in 1940, reaching #1519 nationally. See the whole 1940 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hannah to Anita
The story of Anita
Anita Loos wrote Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as a series of magazine pieces, in the voice of a Lorelei Lee who records her own progress through a series of rich men in a diary of spectacular unreliability. The joke is entirely in the narration: Lorelei never says anything unkind and the reader assembles the truth from what she leaves out. It sold in enormous numbers, went through printing after printing, was translated widely, and Edith Wharton — who was not a generous critic — called it the great American novel. Loos had been writing film titles since her teens, wrote for the screen for decades, and produced the line about men seldom making passes at girls who wear glasses. She said later that she had written the book because the men she knew kept losing their intelligence around a particular blonde.
Meaning
favor, grace
The Spanish diminutive of Ana, from the Hebrew Hannah, which means favor or grace. In Spanish the ending is grammar rather than a separate name; English treated the whole thing as a unit and gave it to children who had no Ana behind them at all.
How the name formed
- Hannah
- Ana
- Anita
Related forms: Anita · Annetta · Aninha · Anitta
Pronouncing Anita
uh-NEE-tuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle, which is where the Spanish ending puts it. English speakers say it the same way, which is unusual for a borrowed diminutive.
Nicknames for Anita
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 195917 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1519reached in 1940
- Change vs 1989
- −33.3%6 in 1990, from 9
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.
Anita in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Anita in Spanish — same name
- Annetta in Italian — related form
- Aninha in Portuguese — related form
- Anitta in Finnish — related form
Anitas among us
people named Anita are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Anita sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It reads correctly on sight in English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
- Both halves detach as short forms and each is a complete name.
- The meaning is documented and simple.
- It reads as a diminutive to Spanish speakers, which some families mind and most do not.
- Anitra and Aneta will both be written for it.
- It is strongly associated with particular mid-century decades in America.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Anita to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Anita? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Anita
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Anitas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Anita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Anita in 2025?
- Anita is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Anita with classmates?
- Anita will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anthony#46 · Andrew#73 · Alexander#30 · Aaron#80 · Adam#101 · Arthur#87 · Albert#614 · Austin#113
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anita? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anita and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle