Ann
Feminine · “favor”
Ann is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 470,261 girls against 1,364 boys since 1880. See Ann as a boy name
Ann is three letters and has outlasted almost everything. It is one of the oldest continuously used women's names in English, it has been the standard second element in double names for centuries, and it has been carried by a queen whose reign changed the succession and by a Manchester factory worker who founded a religion in America.
How old is the name Ann?
Ann was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ann alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 267,000 people named Ann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ann most popular?
Ann peaked in 1936, reaching #28 nationally. Today it ranks #1076, 1,048 places below that high. See the whole 1936 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Hebrew word about favor, through Greek and Latin to Ann
The story of Ann
The last Stuart sovereign was pregnant at least seventeen times and outlived every child. Some were stillborn, most of the rest died in infancy, and the one who reached eleven died before she came to the throne. By the time she was queen the question of who would succeed her was a matter of legislation rather than of family, and Parliament settled it by statute, skipping over dozens of nearer heirs on religious grounds and handing the crown to a German cousin. Her personal history, which was a private catastrophe repeated across two decades, therefore produced the dynasty that ruled Britain for the next two hundred years.
Meaning
favor, grace
The name descends from a Hebrew word about favor or grace, through Greek and Latin, and the reading is settled. The short English form is the same name as its longer relatives rather than a nickname for them, which is why it has always been registered in its own right rather than as a shortening of anything.
How the name formed
- A Hebrew word about favor, through Greek and Latin
- One of the standard women's names of medieval England
- The default second half of double names
- Ann and Anne in parallel use for centuries
Related forms: Anne · Anna · Áine
Pronouncing Ann
AN
One syllable, with a short flat a. The doubled n is not audible and does not need to be: it marks the name as a name rather than as the beginning of a longer word, which is what final doubling generally does in English.
Nicknames for Ann
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19579,040 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #28reached in 1936
- Change vs 2022
- −0.9%225 in 2025, from 227
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.
Ann in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Anne in French — same name
- Anna in Italian — related form
- Áine in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Alabama, Texas, Mississippi.
Anns among us
people named Ann are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,143 born in 2025 was named Ann
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ann
- #1076
- Ann on the 2025 chart
- #704
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ann went to 225 girls in 2025, but An is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 261, which makes it the 704th most-given girls’ name of the year — 372 places above the chart.
- Ann225
- An36
About 1 girl in 6,158 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 7,143 for Ann 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 Lucille test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ann's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lucille climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lucille's path sketches the road Ann is walking now.
Ann has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ann is headed
Ann should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Ann beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ann in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is impossible to mispronounce and takes no explaining anywhere.
- It works as a first name or as the second half of a double name.
- The meaning is a single word and has never been in doubt.
- The spelling with an e is equally standard and will be written half the time.
- It reads as a middle name to many people because it is used as one so often.
- The spelling appears on the register for both sexes in small numbers.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Ann
Feminine · #1076 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 267,000 people named Ann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ann?
- Ann is the most-used spelling in US records — 225 of the 261 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are An.
- How popular is the name Ann in 2025?
- Ann ranks #1076 among US girl names in 2025, with 225 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ann?
- About 1 in every 7,143 US girls born in 2025 was named Ann — 225 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ann with classmates?
- Ann will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ann
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rubi#1076 · Katelyn#1076 · Nayla#1076 · Braelyn#1080 · Zaira#1080 · Harriet#1071 · Aniya#1071 · Kara#1071
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ann? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ann and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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