Ann

📖 About Ann

Ann is an English form of the Hebrew name Hannah (חַנָּה), meaning "grace" or "favor." One of the most enduring names in the Western world, Ann has roots stretching back to the biblical Hannah, mother of the prophet Samuel, whose story of devoted prayer and divine favor gave the name deep religious resonance. The form "Ann" emerged in medieval England as a simplified spelling of the French "Anne," which itself came from the Latin "Anna" and Greek "Ánna." Saint Anne, venerated as the mother of the Virgin Mary, cemented the name across Christian Europe. In its unadorned single-syllable form, Ann became enormously popular in the English-speaking world from the 17th through mid-20th centuries, frequently appearing as both a given name and a middle name. In Australia, Ann ranked consistently in the top 40 through the 1950s, peaking around rank 31 in 1955, before gradually declining through the 1960s as longer forms like Anne and Anna gained preference. In Germany, the name experienced a notable surge in the late 1960s, reaching rank 4 in 1967. Though less fashionable today as a standalone name, Ann remains one of the most common middle names in English, and its influence echoes through dozens of variants — Anna, Anne, Annie, Anya, Annika, Annette, and Nancy among them.

📊 Popularity Over Time