Usage: English, Italian, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Finnish, Estonian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Icelandic, Catalan, Provençal, Breton,Biblical, Old Church Slavic, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Form of Channah (see HANNAH) used in the Greek and Latin Old Testament. Many later Old Testament translations, including the English, use the Hannah spelling. The name appears briefly in the New Testament belonging to a prophetess who recognized Jesus as the Messiah. It was a popular name in the Byzantine Empire from an early date, and in the Middle Ages it became common among Western Christians due to veneration of Saint Anna (usually known as Saint Anne in English), the name traditionally assigned to the mother of the Virgin Mary. In the English-speaking world, this form came into general use in the 18th century, joining Ann and Anne.
The name was borne by several Russian royals, including an 18th-century empress of Russia. It was also the name of the main character in Leo Tolstoy’s novel ‘Anna Karenina’ (1877), a woman forced to choose between her son and her lover.
(Behindthename.com)
SarahInJune said,
October 15, 2009 @ 1:41 pm
I think Anna is great. Anne too. The real question is whether you’ve liked having it.
babynamelover said,
October 15, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
I like it 🙂 simple, easy to remember, everyone can spell it 🙂
Bewildertrix said,
October 15, 2009 @ 9:04 pm
I absolutely detest Hannah but I love Anna and Anne.
Hannah bores me rotten whereas Anna/Anne never do. So similar and yet so different in my head.
babynamelover said,
October 15, 2009 @ 11:42 pm
Hannah is my cousin shes younger than me. I much prefer to be Anna 🙂 Anne would be gorgeous to see on a baby!
shay120 said,
October 16, 2009 @ 2:24 am
Anna doesn’t wow me, she is very common and hence very boring to me.
babynamelover said,
October 16, 2009 @ 6:19 am
Fair enough 🙂
Bewildertrix said,
October 16, 2009 @ 9:03 pm
If it’s any consolation, Anna, your name is not exactly common where we live at all. I mean Stella, Isla and Georgia are more popular 😉
Hannah is of course.
babynamelover said,
October 16, 2009 @ 10:47 pm
Oh its at 41! 46 in 2007. Do you think its going up? or just floating round 40’s? Wow really Stella & Isla are more popular crazy! Georgia has been super popular here. 11 in 2004 so lots of Georgia’s must be in new entrants at school now. Why do you think Hannah is more popular than Anna? Hannah Montana? I’m surprised thats Lucy’s so high at 14! It annoys me both Maddison & Madison are so high up I wonder if they will drop?
Bewildertrix said,
October 16, 2009 @ 11:49 pm
Madison has fluctuated a few spots up and down over the last four years. It went down two places last year. Maddison dropped too. Yay! I think we will see more Addison now though. Addison is still very novel here. I rarely see them in Kiwi BAs and I’ve just started noticing more in Aussie ones. Then again it’s so close to Madison/Maddison, surely people will be sick enough of those and gloss over Addison? Surely? *fingers crossed*
Hannah Montana definitely has something to do with it.
Speaking of -anna type names, I forgot Savannah too which came out of nowhere in 2007 to be #65. Brianna is out of the top 100 last year. I don’t mind Savannah. It’s been used for a few hundred years on both American and British women so I hate seeing it called ‘not legit’ enough and 20th century only.
Another name which should be there and isn’t is Susannah. I don’t love it, but it would be refreshing over Hannah.
Lucy standing continues to surprise me too. I don’t encounter them very often. It seems to be all Madison, Charlotte, Sophie and Emma!
babynamelover said,
October 17, 2009 @ 1:27 am
I hope they do gloss over Addison! I thought Madison and Taylor were both on the out then two girls I went to school with chose them for their daughters, I worry that people who loved the name whilst the trend was going and aren’t having kids till later will still use it?
I don’t like Savannah- thats crazy how it just appeared! I prefer Sahara. Susannah is pretty 🙂 definitely fresher than Hannah.
I agree with you on those four + Charli (In its multiple forms) Amelia, Ella & Chloe.