Anna
Masculine · “grace”
Anna is given to girls far more often — 914,859 girls against 2,756 boys since 1880. See Anna as a girl name
Anna for a son is rare in the American record and older than it looks — the name is masculine in Hungarian records only as a surname, but in English the entries are family names carried across.
How old is the name Anna?
Anna was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Anna alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 1,100 people named Anna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anna most popular?
Anna peaked in 1898, reaching #345 nationally. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From channah to Anna
The story of Anna
Anna is one of the most-used names in Europe and is overwhelmingly feminine. Its appearance in American masculine records reflects a family practice — a mother's or grandmother's name given to a son, most often as a first name paired with a masculine middle — and also transcription from records where the sex field was mistaken. It appears sparsely through the nineteenth century.
Meaning
grace, favor
From the Hebrew channah, 'grace' or 'favor', through the Greek and Latin Anna. It is the name of the prophetess in Luke who recognizes the infant Jesus, and in Christian tradition the name of Mary's mother. The Hebrew is ordinary and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- channah
- Anna
Related forms: Anne · Anna · Channah
Pronouncing Anna
AN-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically whichever sex carries it.
Nicknames for Anna
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 boys named
- 192648 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #345reached in 1898
- Change vs 2017
- −25.0%6 in 2021, from 8
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.
Anna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Anne in English — related form
- Anna in Italian — same name
- Channah in Hebrew — related form
Annas among us
people named Anna 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
Anna 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
- The grace meaning is transparent and undisputed.
- It is one of the most-used names in European history.
- Four letters, two syllables, and never misheard.
- In English the name reads as unambiguously feminine.
- Some masculine entries in the data are likely record-keeping errors rather than choices.
- The masculine use is period-coded to the nineteenth century.
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Anna
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Annas 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 Anna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Anna in 2025?
- Anna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Anna with classmates?
- Anna 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 Anna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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