Anana
A Sanskrit name meaning "a food offering made to the gods".
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Anana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anana today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anana births was 2003 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anana. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Anana. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
2003
9 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2007 SSA rank
#17,851
Tracked since 1973
Popularity
Anana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anana from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 14 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anana 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 Anana 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 Anana
The name Anana has its origins in Ancient Greek and is derived from the word "ananos," which means "delicate" or "tender." It was a popular name among the aristocratic families of ancient Athens and Sparta during the classical period of Greek civilization, which spanned from the 5th to the 4th century BCE.
One of the earliest known references to the name Anana can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek poet Sappho, who lived on the island of Lesbos around 600 BCE. In one of her fragments, she mentions a woman named Anana, suggesting that the name was in use during that time.
During the Hellenistic period, which followed the classical era, the name Anana gained wider popularity throughout the Greek-speaking world. It was particularly favored by families with cultural ties to the regions of Ionia and Aeolis, which were located in modern-day western Turkey.
In the 3rd century BCE, a prominent Athenian philosopher named Anana is recorded as having written several treatises on ethics and virtue. Unfortunately, her works have been lost to time, but her name serves as a reminder of the intellectual contributions of women in ancient Greek society.
Fast-forwarding to the Byzantine era, the name Anana resurfaces in the historical records of the 10th century CE. An influential noblewoman named Anana Doukas played a significant role in the political intrigues of the Byzantine court during the reign of Emperor Basil II.
Another notable figure bearing the name Anana was a 12th-century nun and scholar from Constantinople, known as Anana Komnene. She was renowned for her expertise in theology and wrote several commentaries on religious texts that were widely studied in monasteries across the Byzantine Empire.
In the 15th century, an Italian scholar and humanist named Anana Bassi gained recognition for her contributions to the study of classical Greek literature. She was one of the few women of her time to receive a formal education and was celebrated for her eloquence and erudition.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who have carried the name Anana throughout the centuries, highlighting its enduring presence and significance across various eras and cultures influenced by the ancient Greek tradition.
People
Anana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anana 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
Anana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anana 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Anana a common name?
We classify Anana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anana most popular?
The single biggest year for Anana was 2003, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anana is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Anana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anana in the SSA data are female. 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 Anana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anana 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 Anana 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Anana?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Anana, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.