Havana
Feminine
Havana is the capital of Cuba, and its name is older than the Spanish who wrote it down — it comes from the language of the people who were there first, and its exact meaning did not survive.
How old is the name Havana?
Havana first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Havana is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,600 people named Havana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Havana most popular?
Havana peaked in 1898, reaching #1263 nationally. Today it ranks #3249, 1,986 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Habana to Havana
The story of Havana
The Taíno people of the Caribbean gave Spanish a great many words — hurricane, canoe, hammock, tobacco — and a scattering of place names, of which Habana is one. Spanish settlement in the sixteenth century fixed the name, and the city became the great port of the Spanish Caribbean. Its use as a given name is recent and English-speaking, part of a broader taste for place names, and it rose sharply after a widely played song of the same title.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Spanish settlement was named San Cristóbal de La Habana, and the Habana is generally taken from a Taíno word or a local chief's name recorded by the Spanish. The word itself is not translatable from surviving Taíno, and no reading is established.
How the name formed
- Habana
- Havana
Related forms: Habana · La Havane
Pronouncing Havana
huh-VAN-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Spanish says ah-BAH-nah, with a silent h and a b.
Nicknames for Havana
Moderate
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 2018171 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1263reached in 1898
- Change vs 2024
- −32.4%48 in 2025, from 71
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.
Havana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Habana in Spanish — same name
- La Havane in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Havanas among us
people named Havana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 33,485 born in 2025 was named Havana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Havana
- #3249
- Havana on the 2025 chart
- #891
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Havana went to 48 girls in 2025, but Havanna and Havannah are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 69, which makes it the 891st most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,358 places above the chart.
- Havana48
- Havanna14
- Havannah7
About 1 girl in 23,294 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 33,485 for Havana 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
Fashion outlook
Havana 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 Havana is headed
Havana should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. 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.
Havana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Havana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A real place with an unbroken five-hundred-year documented history.
- Ana sits inside it as a complete name in its own right.
- Read correctly on sight by English speakers.
- The English and Spanish pronunciations differ at the first consonant and share very little.
- Naming a child for a city invites the question of whether the family is from there.
- The meaning is genuinely lost, so the honest answer says so.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Havana to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Havana? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Havana
Feminine · #3249 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Havanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Havana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Havana?
- Havana is the most-used spelling in US records — 48 of the 69 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Havanna and Havannah.
- How popular is the name Havana in 2025?
- Havana ranks #3249 among US girl names in 2025, with 48 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Havana?
- About 1 in every 33,485 US girls born in 2025 was named Havana — 48 in all.
- Will my child share the name Havana with classmates?
- Havana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Havana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aisley#3249 · Quinley#3249 · Rosetta#3249 · Avalee#3249 · Unknown#3249 · Livi#3249 · Delina#3249 · Aniah#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Havana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Havana and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle