Henna
Feminine · “home ruler”
Henna is the Finnish form of Henrietta, and it is also the dye plant — an Arabic word that English took along with the substance.
How old is the name Henna?
Henna first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Henna alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 1,300 people named Henna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Henna most popular?
Henna peaked in 2001, reaching #2766 nationally. Today it ranks #3975, 1,209 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Where it comes from
From Henriikka to Henna
The story of Henna
Finnish naming clips longer borrowed names hard — Henriikka gives Henna, Katariina gives Kaisa — and the results are registered as full names. Quite separately, henna has been used to dye hands, hair and nails across North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia for thousands of years, and the word came into English with the practice in the seventeenth century.
Meaningscholars disagree
home ruler; or the dye plant
Finnish Henna clips Henriikka, from Germanic haim, a home, and ric, a ruler. Separately Arabic hinna names the plant Lawsonia inermis and the reddish dye made from its leaves. The two are unrelated and both are documented.
How the name formed
- Henriikka
- Henna
Related forms: Henna · Henrietta · Hinna
Pronouncing Henna
HEN-nah
Two syllables, first stressed. Finnish holds the double n audibly.
Nicknames for Henna
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 200153 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2766reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- +38.5%36 in 2025, from 26
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.
Henna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Henna in Finnish — same name
- Henrietta in English — related form
- Hinna in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Hennas among us
people named Henna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 44,646 born in 2025 was named Henna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Henna
- #3975
- Henna on the 2025 chart
- #915
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Henna went to 36 girls in 2025, but Hena is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 45, which makes it the 915th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,060 places above the chart.
- Henna36
- Hena9
About 1 girl in 35,717 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 44,646 for Henna 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 Timberly test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Henna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Timberly climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Timberly's path sketches the road Henna is walking now.
Henna 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 Henna is headed
Henna should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Henna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Henna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two documented sources, Finnish and Arabic, both real.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Most English speakers will hear the dye plant rather than the name.
- The Hen clip is an ordinary English noun and children will use it.
- Henna, Hanna and Jenna are all close in an American ear.
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What they receive
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Henna
Feminine · #3975 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hennas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Henna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Henna?
- Henna is the most-used spelling in US records — 36 of the 45 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Hena.
- How popular is the name Henna in 2025?
- Henna ranks #3975 among US girl names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Henna?
- About 1 in every 44,646 US girls born in 2025 was named Henna — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Henna with classmates?
- Henna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Henna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rubie#3975 · Bradley#3975 · Jodi#3975 · An#3975 · Ilianna#3975 · Saja#3975 · Ansleigh#3975 · Dorcas#3975
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Henna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Henna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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