Hannah
Feminine · “favor”
Hannah is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 465,685 girls against 721 boys since 1880. See Hannah as a boy name
Hannah reads the same in both directions, which almost no name in general use does, and it has done so since Hebrew: the consonants that spell it are symmetrical too. It is one of the oldest continuously used women's names in English, and it carries one of the most argued-over phrases of the last century.
How old is the name Hannah?
Hannah was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Hannah alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 441,000 people named Hannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hannah most popular?
Hannah peaked in 1998, reaching #2 nationally. Today it ranks #56, 54 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Where it comes from
From Channah to Hannah
The story of Hannah
The name belongs first to a woman in the book of Samuel who prays at a shrine so intensely and so silently that the priest watching assumes she is drunk, and the song she sings afterwards is one of the oldest poems in the Hebrew Bible. Anne, Anna, Ann and Nan all descend from her. In the twentieth century the name attached itself to a very different kind of argument: a political theorist, a refugee from Germany, went to Jerusalem to report on the trial of an organiser of the deportations, and came back with a phrase about the ordinariness of the man in the glass booth. She meant that enormous crimes can be carried out by people with no depth of motive at all — that thoughtlessness rather than monstrosity was what she had watched. The phrase was misread as an excuse almost immediately, the argument that followed lasted decades, and it cost her several of her oldest friendships.
Meaning
favor, grace
From Hebrew hannah, from a root meaning to be gracious or to show favor. The same root lies behind John, Anne, Jane, Joanna and a dozen others, which makes this one of the most productive words in the entire European name stock.
Cultural footprint
Hannah Arendt (b. 1906) — Philosopher who coined "the banality of evil"
Hannah Waddingham (b. 1974) — Emmy winner as Ted Lasso's Rebecca
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Channah
- Anna
- Anne
- Hannah
Related forms: Chana · Hanna · Hanna · Áine · Anne · Anna
Pronouncing Hannah
HAN-uh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The final h is silent in English and is there because Hebrew transliteration put it there; several European languages drop it without changing the sound.
Nicknames for Hannah
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 199821,376 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2reached in 1998
- Change vs 2022
- −11.5%3,973 in 2025, from 4,490
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.
Hannah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Chana in Hebrew — same name
- Hanna in German — spelling variant
- Hanna in Hungarian — spelling variant
- Áine in Irish — related form
- Anne in French — related form
- Anna in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Hannahs among us
people named Hannah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 405 born in 2025 was named Hannah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Hannah
- #56
- Hannah on the 2025 chart
- #43
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Hannah went to 3,973 girls in 2025, but Hanna and Hana 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 — 13 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 405 for Hannah 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 Barbara test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hannah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Barbara climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Barbara's path sketches the road Hannah is walking now.
Hannah is coming down from a big peak (#2 in 1998). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Hannah is headed
Hannah 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.
Hannah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hannah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is known everywhere in the Western world and needs no explanation in any of it.
- The meaning is documented and simple, which not every long-established name can claim.
- It reads identically forwards and backwards, which children notice and enjoy for years.
- Hanna without the final h is common enough that the spelling will be asked about often.
- It has been near the top of the American lists for a long time, so a classroom may hold more than one.
- It is recorded for sons as well, but so rarely that a boy carrying it would be explaining it constantly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Hannah to the vote.
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What they receive
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Hannah
Feminine · #56 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hannahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 441,000 people named Hannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Hannah?
- Hannah is the most-used spelling in US records — 3,973 of the 5,016 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Hanna and Hana.
- How popular is the name Hannah in 2025?
- Hannah ranks #56 among US girl names in 2025, with 3,973 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Hannah?
- About 1 in every 405 US girls born in 2025 was named Hannah — 3,973 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hannah with classmates?
- Hannah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hannah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lillian#57 · Sophie#55 · Victoria#54 · Leah#58 · Josephine#53 · Adeline#59 · Leilani#60 · Stella#52
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hannah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hannah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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