Anna (name)

This article is about the given name. For other uses, see Anna (disambiguation).
For a celebration, see Anniversary.
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
Name dayJuly 26
Origin
Language(s)Hebrew, Greek, Latin
Meaningfavour, grace
Region of originGerman (mainly Saarland) French (from Alsace and Lorraine of German origin) Slovak and Hungarian
Other names
Alternative spellingAna, Anne
Variant form(s)Ana, Anne, Annie
Related names
  • Anita (Spanish)
  • Anja (Danish)
  • Anka (Russian)
  • Annetta (Italian)
  • Annette (French)
  • Annie (English)
  • Annika (Swedish)
See alsoHanna
Popularitysee popular names
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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".

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,[2] where Anna appears as the sister of Dido advising her to keep Aeneas in her city.

Variant forms

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

Composite names including Anna and variants

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People

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

Academics, medicine, and science

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Activism

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Aristocracy

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Arts and entertainment

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Journalism, authors, novelists and writers

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Law and politics

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Sportspeople

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Miscellaneous

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as a masculine name

Fictional use

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See also

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Notes

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