Ana

Where Ana comes from

From various languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, and Macedonian, all derived—sometimes via Late Latin Anna in the Vulgate—from Koine Greek Ἄννα (Ánna, “Anna”), chiefly in reference to St Anne the apocryphal mother of Mary mother of Jesus but appearing in the New Testament in reference to Anna the Prophetess, from Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ, “Hannah”), from חַנָּה (ḥannâ, “grace, gracious, graced with child”). As an Oregonian river, named for Ana Byars, daughter of the surveyor W.H. Byars. Doublet of Ann, Anne, Anna, and Hannah.
— Wiktionary's entry for Ana
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #836 among girls — 5 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1975
    Ana Brnabić born
    President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
  3. 1991
    Peak, #119
    2,652 babies named Ana — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1997
    Ana Mena born
    Spanish singer-songwriter, actress and model
  5. 2020
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #244.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name, equivalent to English Anna or Hannah.
Namesakes
  • Ana Mena · Spanish singer-songwriter, actress and model, born 1997
  • Ana Brnabić · President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, born 1975
  • Ana Ivanovic · Serbian tennis player, born 1987
  • Ana de Armas · Cuban-Spanish actress and model, born 1988
  • Ana Blandiana · Romanian poet, essayist, and political figure, born 1942

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.