Anna

Anna meaning

Anna is a Christian and international girl's name of Hebrew origin.

Favoured; Greek form of the Hebrew name Channah (Hannah)

Also used to mean: grace

Anna is the Greek and Latin form of the Hebrew Channah, better known in English as Hannah. Strong's Concordance glosses Channah as "favoured", from the verb chanan, "to show favour, to be gracious". In the Hebrew Bible Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel. In the Gospel of Luke (2:36–38) Anna is an aged prophetess who meets the infant Jesus in the Temple. Christian tradition, drawing on writings outside the Bible, also gives the name Anne to the mother of the Virgin Mary, whose story closely echoes Hannah's. Name lists usually give Anna as "grace", a loose rendering of the Hebrew "favoured". In India it is used mainly in Christian families.

Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, G451 (from H2584) · entry Hanna · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Strong's Greek G451, Hanna (Bible Hub) · Strong's Hebrew H2584, Channah (Bible Hub) · Britannica, Saint Anne

Famous namesakes

• Anna the prophetess, Gospel of Luke 2:36–38
• Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary in Christian tradition

Popularity abroad

• #107 United States, girls 2025 (down 13 from 94 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #142 England and Wales, girls 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Anna · Ana · Annah

Related names

Also meaning grace

More names of Hebrew origin

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