Hannah · Daily fortune

Hannah is a feminine name of Hebrew origin. Behind the Name derives it from חַנָּה (Ḥanna) meaning "favour, grace", from the root חָנַן (ḥanan) "to be gracious"; Wikipedia gives the same Semitic root ḥ-n-n and quotes the gloss "He (God) has favoured me with a child". In the Old Testament Hannah is the wife of Elkanah who, after years without children, becomes the mother of the prophet Samuel. Anna, Anne and Ann are the Greek, Latin and vernacular forms of the same name, used in England since the late Middle Ages; Hannah itself was not regularly used in English until after the Protestant Reformation. It surged in the late 20th century and ranked #56 for girls in the United States in 2025.

Behind the Name gives Hannah as coming "from the Hebrew name חַנָּה (Ḥanna) meaning 'favour, grace', derived from the root חָנַן (ḥanan) meaning 'to be gracious'." Wikipedia agrees, deriving Hebrew Ḥannāh from the Semitic root ḥ-n-n meaning "favour" or "grace", and cites A Dictionary of First Names for the fuller rendering "He (God) has favoured me with a child"; it also notes that the Phoenician name Hannibal shares the same Canaanite root. Behind the Name's separate entry for Anna describes it as the "form of Hannah used in the Greek and Latin Old Testament", which is why Anna, Anne and Ann are the same name in a different dress.

Behind the Name summarises the biblical story: in the Old Testament Hannah is the wife of Elkanah, whose rival, Elkanah's other wife Peninnah, had children while Hannah remained barren; after a blessing from Eli she finally became pregnant with Samuel. Wikipedia adds that the name is also traditionally attached to Saint Anne, the mother of Mary, to an unnamed Jewish martyr in 2 Maccabees, and in some translations to Anna the Prophetess in Luke's Gospel. In England the Latin form Anna and the vernacular forms Anne and Ann were in use from the late Middle Ages, but Behind the Name says Hannah itself "was not regularly used until after the Protestant Reformation". It then records that "in the last half of the 20th century Hannah surged in popularity and neared the top of the name rankings for both the United States and the United Kingdom"; the Anna entry adds that Hannah is presently more popular than Anna, Anne and Ann combined in English-speaking countries.

Hannah ranked #56 for girls in the United States in 2025 (Social Security Administration); the cached Behind the Name entry records the same rank. Behind the Name says the name surged in the last half of the 20th century and neared the top of the rankings in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and its Anna entry notes that Hannah is currently more popular than Anna, Anne or Ann in English-speaking countries. Neither source gives specific earlier ranks, so no earlier snapshots are included.

English Hannah is /ˈhæn.ə/, HAN-ə, with the stress on the first syllable. Behind the Name also gives IPA for the German, Dutch and Arabic uses of the same spelling; those are reproduced below. Most other languages use a form of Anna instead, and the forms listed for them are taken from Behind the Name's "Other Languages & Cultures" list with pronunciations not verified in this pass.

Hannah is a biblical classic with a gentle, palindromic shape that reads as both traditional and soft. Because it peaked so recently, in the 1990s and 2000s, it now feels like a name of young adults rather than of grandmothers, which gives it a slightly different register from Anna or Anne even though they are the same name. It is a natural fit for parents who want something scriptural and familiar without a hard edge, alongside names like Abigail, Leah, Rachel, Sarah and Naomi.

The name's founding story is biblical; its later bearers include a striking number of writers and thinkers. All are named in the Behind the Name or Wikipedia entries consulted for this profile.

Names that share Hannah's biblical-classic style, its Hebrew origin, or its sound.