Giannina
Feminine · “God is gracious”
Giannina is John three times softened: Giovanni became Gianni, Gianni became Gianna, and Gianna took the Italian diminutive -ina. The Hebrew sentence at the bottom of all that says God is gracious, and it has been in continuous use for two thousand years.
How old is the name Giannina?
Giannina first appears in US birth records in 1965 — 60 years ago. The typical Giannina alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 500 people named Giannina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Giannina most popular?
Giannina peaked in 2022, reaching #3470 nationally. Today it ranks #4987, 1,517 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Giannina appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Yochanan to Giannina
The story of Giannina
Italian builds names by contraction and then by diminution, and John gives the clearest example: Giovanni contracts to Gianni, feminises to Gianna, and diminishes to Giannina. Each step is ordinary in the language and produces a name people actually use. Giannina has been given in Italy and among Italian families abroad, and it has been rising in Latin America too, where the Italian look carries a certain style. Its full form is one of the most documented names in Europe.
Meaning
God is gracious
Through Giovanni from Latin Ioannes and Greek Ioannes, and behind them Hebrew Yochanan: Yah, the divine name, with chanan, to show favor. The Italian -ina is an affectionate diminutive and adds no meaning.
How the name formed
- Yochanan
- Ioannes
- Giovanni
- Gianna
- Giannina
Related forms: Gianna · Joanna · Juana · Jeanne · Ioanna · Ivanna
Pronouncing Giannina
jah-NEE-nah
Three or four syllables depending on how the gi is treated. The Italian gi- is a j sound, not a hard g, which is the one thing English readers need told.
Nicknames for Giannina
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
- 1965
- Most girls named
- 202245 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3470reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −39.5%26 in 2025, from 43
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.
Giannina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gianna in Italian — related form
- Joanna in English — same name
- Juana in Spanish — same name
- Jeanne in French — same name
- Ioanna in Greek — same name
- Ivanna in Russian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Gianninas among us
people named Giannina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 61,818 born in 2025 was named Giannina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Giannina
- #4987
- Giannina on the 2025 chart
- #909
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Giannina went to 26 girls in 2025, but Gianina is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 51, which makes it the 909th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,078 places above the chart.
- Giannina26
- Gianina25
About 1 girl in 31,515 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 61,818 for Giannina 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 Yaira test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Giannina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Yaira climbed just as high around 2003, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Yaira's path sketches the road Giannina is walking now.
Giannina 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 Giannina is headed
Giannina is on a steep climb — if the curve holds, 2030 could see around 85% more babies given the name than today. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Giannina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Giannina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It offers several short forms, Gianna and Nina and Gigi, each a complete name.
- The meaning is settled and belongs to one of the most-used names on earth.
- It is unmistakably Italian while being easy for English speakers to say.
- The Italian gi- is read as a hard g by many English speakers.
- Giannina, Gianina and Giovannina all appear, so the spelling will be asked for.
- Gianna is very well used, so the everyday form will not be distinctive.
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What they receive
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Giannina
Feminine · #4987 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gianninas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Giannina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Giannina?
- Giannina is the most-used spelling in US records — 26 of the 51 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Gianina.
- How popular is the name Giannina in 2025?
- Giannina ranks #4987 among US girl names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Giannina?
- About 1 in every 61,818 US girls born in 2025 was named Giannina — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Giannina with classmates?
- Giannina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Giannina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Perri#4987 · Karisma#4987 · Zuleyka#4987 · Mccall#4987 · Makinley#4987 · Jayani#4987 · Embry#4987 · Mela#4987
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Giannina? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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