Hannah
Masculine · “favor”
Hannah is given to girls far more often — 465,685 girls against 721 boys since 1880. See Hannah as a girl 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 first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Hannah alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 700 people named Hannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hannah most popular?
Hannah peaked in 2004, reaching #1384 nationally. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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.
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
- 1919
- Most boys named
- 2004103 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1384reached in 2004
- Change vs 2021
- +40.0%7 in 2022, from 5
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
Hannahs among us
people named Hannah 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
Hannah 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
- 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.
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Hannah
Masculine
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 700 people named Hannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hannah in 2025?
- Hannah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Hannah with classmates?
- Hannah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Henry#5 · Harold#991 · Harry#775 · Howard#1002 · Hunter#130 · Herbert#2641 · Herman#2363 · Harvey#251
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hannah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hannah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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