Vanna
Feminine · “the Lord is gracious”
Vanna is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 2,009 girls against 59 boys since 1880.
Vanna is a short form in Italian and a full name in Khmer, and the two have nothing to do with each other. Italian trims Giovanna from the front; Cambodian has its own word entirely.
How old is the name Vanna?
Vanna first appears in US birth records in 1905 — 120 years ago. The typical Vanna alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 1,800 people named Vanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vanna most popular?
Vanna peaked in 1986, reaching #1233 nationally. Today it ranks #2895, 1,662 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Giovanna to Vanna
The story of Vanna
Italian shortens names from the front rather than the back — Giovanna gives Vanna as Bernardino gives Dino — and Vanna has stood alone in Italy for centuries. Separately, Khmer took vanna from Sanskrit varna, 'color, appearance', and it became one of the most-used elements in Cambodian naming. Both roads reach United States records: the Italian one through twentieth-century emigration, the Khmer one through Cambodian resettlement after 1975. The spelling gives no hint which family a Vanna belongs to.
Meaningscholars disagree
the Lord is gracious — in Italian; or golden — in Khmer
Italian Vanna is the tail of Giovanna, the feminine of Giovanni and so of John, Hebrew Yochanan, 'the Lord is gracious'. Khmer vanna means golden or of good complexion, from a Sanskrit word for color and appearance, and it is an ordinary Cambodian name for both sexes. Two languages, one spelling, no connection at all.
How the name formed
- Giovanna
- Vanna
Related forms: Giovanna · Vanna · Varna
Pronouncing Vanna
VAN-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Italian holds the doubled n slightly longer than English does. Khmer says it with a fuller final vowel; American English reduces it to a schwa.
Nicknames for Vanna
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
- 1905
- Most girls named
- 1986111 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1233reached in 1986
- Change vs 2023
- +34.9%58 in 2025, from 43
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.
Vanna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Giovanna in Italian — related form
- Vanna in Khmer — same name
- Varna in Sanskrit — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Georgia, Texas.
Vannas among us
people named Vanna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 27,712 born in 2025 was named Vanna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Vanna
- #2895
- Vanna on the 2025 chart
- #889
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Vanna went to 58 girls in 2025, but Vana is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 71, which makes it the 889th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,006 places above the chart.
- Vanna58
- Vana13
About 1 girl in 22,638 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 27,712 for Vanna 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 Dodie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Vanna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dodie climbed just as high around 1963, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dodie's path sketches the road Vanna is walking now.
Vanna 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 Vanna is headed
Vanna 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.
Vanna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vanna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters, two syllables, and said correctly by everyone at first sight.
- Giovanna stands behind it as a full formal name on the Italian road.
- At home in two entirely unrelated traditions, which few short names are.
- Its meaning depends entirely on which tradition the family means.
- In Cambodian use it is given to sons as well as daughters.
- Vanna, Vana and Vanya all circulate and belong to different traditions.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Vanna
Feminine · #2895 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vannas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Vanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Vanna?
- Vanna is the most-used spelling in US records — 58 of the 71 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Vana.
- How popular is the name Vanna in 2025?
- Vanna ranks #2895 among US girl names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vanna?
- About 1 in every 27,712 US girls born in 2025 was named Vanna — 58 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vanna with classmates?
- Vanna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vanna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Noora#2895 · Mylie#2895 · Vanellope#2895 · Amore#2895 · Miamor#2895 · Alyah#2895 · Alaska#2895 · Anastacia#2895
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vanna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vanna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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