Girl Names baby nameHannah

What does the name Hannah mean?

The meaning of the name “Hannah” is: “Grace of God”.

Additional information: Hannah is a feminine Hebrew name meaning ‘God’s gift to the world’ – a more modern interpretation of this meaning would be ‘favour’ or ‘grace’. It was used in the Old Testament, it was the mother of the prophet Samuel. She had been unable to bear her husband Elkanah a child, and so prayed at the temple that if God gave her a son then she would give him up to be a priest. When the child, Samuel, was born, she gave him to Eli to be raised as a priest. The Greek and Latin variant Anna was used in the translations of the New Testament. Other variants of Hannah are Hanna, Hana, Ana, and Anne. Hannah is a common name all over the world – as such, it has a lot of variant spellings, including Hanne (German), Anita (Spanish), and Anja (Danish). ‘Hana’ is popular in Japan, but has many different meanings – most typically, 花 is used in names, meaning ‘flower’. Common misspellings of Hannah are ‘Hanah’ and ‘Hanaha’.

Hannah is one of the more popular Biblical names, reflected in both the USA, England, Canada, New Zealand and Austria among other countries. Its popularity as a feminine name spiked between 1998 and 2000 in the USA, becoming the second most popular name; however, its popularity has dipped since then, and it was the 28th most popular name for girls in 2014 in the USA. A similar decline is noticeable in England and Wales, where the name fell from sixth in 1997 to 44th in 2013.

Famous people with the name Hannah include Hannah Dakota Fanning (better known as simply Dakota Fanning, an American actress), 18th century writer Hannah More, Hannah Arendt (German philosopher and writer), and Hannah Hart (American internet personality). Perhaps the most famous Hannah from modern times is fictional – Hannah Montana, the alter ego of Miley Cyrus’s character from Hannah Montana.

In Trumball, Connecticut, there is an urban legend surrounding Hannah Cranna – known as the Wicked Witch of Monroe, the Monroe villagers believed her to be a witch after the untimely, mysterious death of her husband. Whether true or not, Hannah Cranna seemed to encourage these rumours, scaring the villagers into giving her free food.