Ann
Meaning
variant of Hannah, meaning 'grace, favor' in Hebrew
Famously borne by Ann Bancroft, the first woman to reach the North Pole by dogsled.
The story
Ann is one of the shortest classic names in English, and one of the deepest. It runs back through Anne to the Hebrew Hannah, grace or favor, the praying mother of Samuel in scripture; tradition also gives the name, as Anne, to the mother of the Virgin Mary. The spare, e-less spelling became a distinctly American workhorse, and for half a century it was everywhere twice over: chosen steadily as a first name into the 1960s, and given as a middle name so often that it can seem the default for a whole generation of women. The records show a long, even run through mid-century, then a gentle step down to the modest, dependable level it holds today. Grace is the meaning, and grace is also the manner: brief, unshowy, complete, a name that never once raised its voice.
Ann around the world
One shared root links 9 names across 5 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Channah "grace, favor", Hannah's prayer-name smoothed through Greek and Latin into Anna and Anne
The constellation
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ann peaked in the 1910s and the 1960s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
210 people · the #24,540 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 34
Among people named Ann living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Ann
People given the name Ann in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 1979. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Ann deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ann truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ann fits with your family’s names and surname.
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