Hana
Feminine
Hana is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 13,007 girls against 11 boys since 1880.
Four letters, two open vowels, and at least three separate languages that arrived at them independently. In Czech and Croatian, Hana is the everyday form of Hannah; in Japanese it is written with the character for flower; in Arabic it belongs to a word for contentment. Few names of this size carry so many passports at once.
How old is the name Hana?
Hana first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Hana alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 13,000 people named Hana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hana most popular?
Hana peaked in 2002, reaching #621 nationally. Today it ranks #657, 36 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Hana appears on these lists:
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- Arabic names in American use
- Japanese names in American use
- African names with radiant meanings
- East and Southeast Asian names in American use
- all guides
Works in Arabic families too:
Where it comes from
From Ḥannah to Hana
The story of Hana
The Central European Hana descends from Hebrew Ḥannah by way of Greek and Latin Anna, and has been the ordinary Czech and Croatian form of that name for centuries — the same name Anne and Hannah reach through other doors. The Japanese Hana is unrelated: a native word, written with the character for flower, long used as a personal name. Arabic Hanā' is a third and separate line, from a root about ease and contentment. American records hold all of these together under one spelling, which is why Hana has been carried here by families from Prague, from Osaka, from Sarajevo and from Cairo alike.
Meaningscholars disagree
Depends on which tradition it comes from: "flower" in Japanese, "bliss, contentment" in Arabic, "grace, favor" through Hebrew Ḥannah
These are not competing guesses about one origin — they are genuinely different names that met at the same spelling. Japanese Hana is written 花, "flower". Arabic Hanā' comes from a root meaning happiness or ease. In Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Bosnian and Slovene, Hana is the standard form of Hebrew Ḥannah, "grace" or "favor". Korean 하나 (hana) is also the word for "one" and is used as a given name. Which reading applies is a family matter, not a dictionary one.
How the name formed
- Ḥannah
- Anna
- Hanna
- Hana
Related forms: Hannah · Hanna · 花 / はな · هناء (Hanā') · Ana · 하나
Pronouncing Hana
HAH-nah
HAH-nah is the pronunciation used in Japanese, Arabic and Slavic families alike, with both vowels open. Some English speakers default to HAN-uh, as in Hannah, so expect to state the preferred version early and often.
Nicknames for Hana
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 2025436 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #621reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- +10.1%436 in 2025, from 396
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.
Hana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hannah in English — related form
- Hanna in German, Swedish, Polish — spelling variant
- 花 / はな in Japanese — transliteration
- هناء (Hanā') in Arabic — transliteration
- Ana in Spanish, Portuguese — related form
- 하나 in Korean — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Hanas among us
people named Hana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,686 born in 2025 was named Hana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Hana
- #657
- Hana on the 2025 chart
- #43
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Hana went to 436 girls in 2025, but Hannah and Hanna are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 5,016, which makes it the 43rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 614 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 320 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 3,686 for Hana 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 Annabell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Annabell climbed just as high around 1906, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Annabell's path sketches the road Hana is walking now.
Hana 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 Hana is headed
Hana 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.
Hana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, four letters, no silent letters — writable and sayable almost anywhere in the world.
- Genuinely at home in Japanese, Czech, Croatian, Arabic and Korean contexts, which is rare in a name this short.
- Sits beside the very familiar Hannah, so the shape is instantly recognizable to English speakers even where the spelling isn't.
- A long, unbroken record in American use, without ever climbing into the crowded part of the charts.
- Established diminutives in Central European tradition (Hanka, Hanička) for families who want them.
- The Hannah problem is real and lifelong: forms, teachers and autocorrect will add letters. Most Hanas learn a quick, cheerful correction and get on with it.
- Pronunciation splits by community — HAH-nah in most of the world, HAN-uh among English speakers who read it as Hannah. Decide which you want and be consistent from the start.
- Already short, so it offers little room for English nicknames; the diminutives that exist belong mainly to Czech and Slovak usage.
- Because several unrelated traditions share the spelling, people sometimes assume a heritage. That can be a pleasant conversation or a repetitive one, depending on the day.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Hana
Feminine · #657 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Hana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Hana?
- Hana is one of 3 recorded spellings. Hannah is the more common one — 3,973 births in 2025 against 436 for Hana.
- How popular is the name Hana in 2025?
- Hana ranks #657 among US girl names in 2025, with 436 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hana?
- About 1 in every 3,686 US girls born in 2025 was named Hana — 436 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hana with classmates?
- Hana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aleena#657 · Noor#659 · Miranda#654 · Melina#660 · Eileen#654 · Gloria#654 · Briana#661 · Alara#652
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hana and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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