Anan
A masculine Arabic name meaning "cloud in the sky".
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Anan. It is a predominantly male name (94.4% of registrations). The average person named Anan today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anan births was 2008 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Anan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Anan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
2008
11 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,351
Tracked since 1983
Census
Anan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 603 people with the first name Anan, which placed it at #18,003 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#18,003
National first-name rank
People counted
603
603 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.4%. The next largest groups are White (30.7%) and Black (10.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Anan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Anan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander43.4% · 262
- White30.7% · 185
- Black or African American10.9% · 66
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 55
- Two or more races5.8% · 35
Gender
Gender distribution for Anan
Anan leans heavily male at 94.4% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Anan as a male name
- Ranked #12,351 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2013 (7 births)
Anan as a female name
- Ranked #17,740 in 2008
- 5 female births in 2008
- Peak: 2008 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Anan on both sides of the split. Of the 599 people counted with this name, 350 were male (58.4%) and 249 were female (41.6%).
Popularity
Anan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 34 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Anan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Anan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anan
The name Anan has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the word "inni" which means "verily" or "truly" in Arabic. The name is believed to have emerged around the 7th century CE during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula.
The earliest recorded use of the name Anan can be found in Islamic historical texts and records from the early Islamic era. One of the most notable figures with this name was Anan ben David, a prominent Jewish scholar and founder of the Karaite Jewish movement in the 8th century CE. He lived in Babylon and was known for rejecting the oral traditions of the Talmud and advocating for a strict adherence to the written Torah.
Another significant figure named Anan was Anan ibn al-Hakam, an Arab military leader and governor who lived in the 8th century CE. He played a crucial role in the Abbasid Revolution, which overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and established the Abbasid Dynasty in 750 CE. Anan ibn al-Hakam was appointed as the governor of several provinces under the new Abbasid rulers.
In the realm of literature, Anan al-Shami was a renowned Arab poet and writer from the 10th century CE. He was born in Damascus and is known for his contributions to Arabic poetry and prose during the Abbasid era.
During the 12th century CE, Anan ben Marwan was a influential Jewish philosopher and scholar from Cordoba, Spain. He is recognized for his work in the field of Jewish philosophy and his commentary on the Torah.
In more recent history, Anan Ameri was an Iranian painter and calligrapher who lived from 1828 to 1904. He was renowned for his intricate calligraphic works and his contributions to the Persian art tradition.
These are just a few examples of notable figures throughout history who bore the name Anan, highlighting its diverse cultural and historical significance across various regions and time periods.
People
Anan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Anan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,894,936 US residents.
Is Anan a common name?
We classify Anan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 89 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anan most popular?
The single biggest year for Anan was 2008, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anan is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 603 people with the name Anan, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,003 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Anan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Anan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Anan on both sides of the split. Of the 599 people counted with this name, 350 were male (58.4%) and 249 were female (41.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Anan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.4%. The next largest groups are White (30.7%) and Black (10.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Anan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Anan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (262 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Anan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anan a male name?
Yes, 94.4% of people registered as Anan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Anan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Anan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Anan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.