Anna (an-uh) is a feminine name that is used in the English, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Icelandic, Catalan, Occitan, Breton, Biblical, Old Church Slavic, Biblical Latin, and Biblical Greek languages.
Meaning and History[]
Anna is a form of the name Channah, meaning "favor" or "grace", that is used in the Greek and Latin Old Testament. Many later Old Testament translations, including the English, use the Hannah spelling instead of Anna. The name appears briefly in the New Testament as the name of 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, 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.
Related Names[]
Variants: Ana, Ona, Onna, Anne, Ann
Diminutives: Annie