Annalee
Feminine
Annalee is built from two of the most familiar pieces in English naming: Anna, which came into Europe through the Greek Bible, and Lee, an old word for a meadow that Americans have used as a surname and middle name for generations. Said aloud it settles into three easy beats, ending on the long open sound that Marilee and Emmylou share. It has been on American records across generations without ever crowding a classroom.
How old is the name Annalee?
Annalee first appears in US birth records in 1902 — 123 years ago. The typical Annalee alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 7,000 people named Annalee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Annalee most popular?
Annalee peaked in 2016, reaching #891 nationally. Today it ranks #1204, 313 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Channah to Annalee
The story of Annalee
Anna is the Greek form of the Hebrew Hannah, carried west by the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible and then by the Latin church, which is why it turns up in nearly every European language. Lee is separate and English: a surname drawn from leah, the word for a meadow or clearing, which American families took up freely as a middle name in the nineteenth century. Compound names welding Anna to a second element — Annabelle, Annamae, Annalee — grew out of exactly that habit. Running alongside it is the German and Scandinavian Annelie, a shortening of Anneliese, which English speakers have respelled in much the same shape.
Meaningscholars disagree
Most often read as "grace" joined to "meadow"
Two serious readings compete. As an English compound, Anna carries the sense of the Hebrew Hannah, "grace, favor", and Lee comes from Old English leah, "meadow, woodland clearing". As an English spelling of the German and Scandinavian Annelie, it instead compresses Anna and Elisabeth, the second element meaning "my God is an oath". Both routes are genuine, and many families arrive by one without knowing the other exists.
How the name formed
- Channah
- Anna
- Anna Lee
- Annalee
Related forms: Annelie · Annelie · Annelies · Anneli · Annalisa · Annaleigh
Pronouncing Annalee
AN-uh-lee
Three syllables, main stress on the first, with a light secondary beat on the last. Some families give the ending a fuller push — AN-uh-LEE — especially when they think of the name as Anna plus Lee rather than a single word.
Nicknames for Annalee
High
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
- 1902
- Most girls named
- 2015309 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #891reached in 2016
- Change vs 2023
- −6.4%189 in 2025, from 202
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.
Annalee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Annelie in German — related form
- Annelie in Swedish — related form
- Annelies in Dutch — related form
- Anneli in Finnish — related form
- Annalisa in Italian — related form
- Annaleigh in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Annalees among us
people named Annalee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,504 born in 2025 was named Annalee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Annalee
- #1204
- Annalee on the 2025 chart
- #734
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Annalee went to 189 girls in 2025, but Analee is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 228, which makes it the 734th most-given girls’ name of the year — 470 places above the chart.
- Annalee189
- Analee39
About 1 girl in 7,049 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 8,504 for Annalee 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 Jannette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Annalee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jannette climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jannette's path sketches the road Annalee is walking now.
Annalee 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 Annalee is headed
Annalee should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Annalee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Annalee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both halves are already known to English speakers, so most people can spell something reasonable on the first hearing.
- An unbroken presence in American records across many generations, without ever becoming a name that fills a class list.
- Several ready short forms — Anna, Annie, Ann, Lee — each of which also works as a standalone name.
- Sits beside a real family of names abroad: Annelie in German and Swedish, Anneli in Finnish, Annalisa in Italian.
- The spelling will need repeating. Annaleigh, Annalie, Annalise and Anneliese all sound close enough that people guess wrong, and some will write it as two words or hyphenate it.
- The Anna- opening is crowded. In conversation she may be taken for an Anna, an Annabelle or an Annalise until she corrects it, and the short form Anna is very common on its own.
- Lee-ending compounds have a long history in the American South and are still strongest in the southern and southwestern states, which some ears read as regional. Others simply hear it as an old family pattern, which it is.
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What they receive
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Annalee
Feminine · #1204 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Annalees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,000 people named Annalee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Annalee?
- Annalee is the most-used spelling in US records — 189 of the 228 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Analee.
- How popular is the name Annalee in 2025?
- Annalee ranks #1204 among US girl names in 2025, with 189 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Annalee?
- About 1 in every 8,504 US girls born in 2025 was named Annalee — 189 in all.
- Will my child share the name Annalee with classmates?
- Annalee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Annalee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Wrenly#1204 · Yaneli#1204 · Sandra#1207 · Anneliese#1207 · Esperanza#1207 · Ellery#1207 · Averi#1200 · Kyleigh#1200
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Annalee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Annalee and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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