Anna
Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, depicted instructing her daughter in this painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The popularity of the name Anne is largely due to this saint.
Pronunciation/ˈænə/
GenderFemale
Origin
Language(s)Hebrew, Greek, Latin
Meaningfull of grace, Favor
Other names
Variant form(s)Ana, Anne, Annie
See alsoHanna

Anna is a feminine given name, the Latin form of the Greek: Ἄννα and the Hebrew name Hannah (Hebrew: חַנָּה, romanized: Ḥannāh), meaning "favour" or "grace" or "beautiful".

Anna is in wide use in countries across the world as are its variants Ana, Anne, originally a French version of the name, though in use in English speaking countries for hundreds of years, and Ann, which was originally the English spelling. Saint Anne is traditionally the name of the mother of the Virgin Mary, which accounts for its wide use and popularity among Christians. The name has also been used for numerous saints and queens. In the context of pre-Christian Europe, the name can be found in Virgil's Aeneid,[1] where Anna appears as the sister of Dido advising her to keep Aeneas in her city.

Variant forms

Alternate forms of Anna, including spelling variants, short forms, diminutives and transliterations are:

Composite names including Anna and variants

People

Anna is a very common given name. People with the name include:

Academics, medicine, and science

Activism

Aristocracy

Arts and entertainment

Journalism

  • Anna Cabana (born 1979), French journalist
  • Anna Dániel (1908–2003), Hungarian journalist
  • Anna Shechtman (born 1990/1991), American journalist and crossword compiler
  • Anna Wintour (born 1949) British-American fashion journalist and editor-in-chief of the magazine Vogue

Law and politics

Sportspeople

Misc

as a masculine name

Fictional use

See also

Notes

  1. "Virgil, Aeneid Book 4, lines 31-52". Perseus Digital Library.
  2. Lie, Kwang-Sook (1996). "Foreign First Names in Korea" (PDF). The SNU Journal of Education Research. 06: 51–59.
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