Hanna
Meaning
form of Hannah, 'grace, favor', standard in many languages
The story
Hanna is what Hannah looks like in most of the world. It is a form of the Hebrew Ḥanna, favour or grace, from a root meaning to be gracious, and it serves as the standard spelling across Polish, Ukrainian, Swedish, Finnish, Arabic, Hebrew and a string of other languages. German speakers add a twist: their Hanna is often a short form of Johanna instead, two rivers feeding one small name. The American record has never once been without it. From 292 girls in the 1890s through a quiet 163 in the 1940s, the spelling simply persisted, then surged with 13,078 in the 1990s and 13,512 in the 2000s. It runs at 3,458 so far this decade. The second H is optional; the grace, apparently, is not.
Hanna 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. Hanna peaked in the 2000s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
15,652 people · the #1,259 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 12,987 · median age 12
Among people named Hanna living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 3,603 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Hanna
Most people given the name Hanna in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Hanna deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Hanna 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 Hanna fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Hanna travels
Polish · A familiar Polish form of Hannah and Anna that also stands on its own.
Keep exploring
Does Hanna fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Hanna to your family’s tree →