Hannah
Meaning
"grace, favor," from Channah, the mother who prayed for a child and gave the Bible one of its tenderest stories; a Puritan mainstay revived in the 1980s and 90s to the American top five. A palindrome, warm from either direction
Famously borne by Hannah Roberts, the American BMX freestyle world champion.
The story
Hannah means grace, or favor, and in the Hebrew Bible she is the woman who prayed so fervently for a child that the priest Eli mistook her silent prayer for drunkenness; her son became the prophet Samuel. That tenderness kept the name alive for centuries, especially among the Puritans, who carried it to America early. It shows up in the very first decades of national record-keeping, fades to a quiet murmur by midcentury, and then stages one of the great comebacks in modern naming: through the 1990s Hannah surged with the wider revival of Old Testament names, reaching its peak in the 2000s, when it stood near the very top of the charts. It has descended since, as peaks always do, but gently, and it keeps two quiet charms: a meaning parents actually want, and a spelling that reads the same in both directions.
Hannah 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
Hannah in song
Hannah Hunt
Vampire Weekend (2013)
The quiet centerpiece of Modern Vampires of the City, about two people driving across the country and slowly coming apart on the way.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Hannah peaked in the 2000s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
6,215 people · the #2,355 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 32,258 · median age 9
Among people named Hannah living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 2,024 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Hannah
Most people given the name Hannah 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 Hannah deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Hannah 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 Hannah fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Hannah travels
Jewish American · a beloved classic honoring the mother of the prophet Samuel
Korean American · favor, grace (a Korean American church favorite; the palindrome spelling also reads cleanly to Korean speakers)
Keep exploring
Names like Hannah · Nicknames for Hannah · Jewish American baby names · Korean American baby names · Hebrew baby names
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