Anne
Of Hebrew origin meaning "favor" or "grace".
Name Census estimates that about 171,755 living Americans carry the first name Anne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anne today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anne births was 1959 (5,755 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anne. 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
- • Although Anne is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 827 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Anne have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
172K
~ 1 in 1,996 Americans
Peak year
1959
5,755 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
1995 SSA rank
#649
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Anne
Out of the 325,475 babies given the name Anne since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Anne as a male name
- Ranked #8,944 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1989 (19 births)
Anne as a female name
- Ranked #649 in 2024
- 450 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1959 (5,745 births)
Popularity
Anne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anne from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 52,497 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anne 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 Anne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Annes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Anne, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,058 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anne
The name Anne has its origins in the ancient Hebrew name Hannah, which means "grace" or "favor." It is derived from the Hebrew word "hanan," meaning "to be gracious." The name gained popularity in early Christianity and was later adopted by various European cultures.
The earliest recorded use of the name Anne dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was mentioned in the New Testament as the name of a prophetess in the Gospel of Luke. This biblical reference helped popularize the name among early Christians.
In the 4th century, St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, became a prominent figure in early Christian tradition. Her cult following contributed to the widespread use of the name Anne throughout Europe during the Middle Ages.
Anne was a popular name among European royalty and nobility. Notable examples include Anne of Brittany (1477-1514), the twice-crowned Queen of France, and Anne Boleyn (c. 1501-1536), the second wife of King Henry VIII of England, whose marriage played a significant role in the English Reformation.
In the literary world, Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612-1672) was an influential American poet and the first female writer to be published in the British North American colonies. Anne Radcliffe (1764-1823) was an English author and a pioneer of the Gothic novel genre.
The name Anne has also been associated with notable scientists and activists. Anne Marie Lavoisier (1758-1836) was a French chemist and the wife of Antoine Lavoisier, known for her contributions to the advancement of chemistry. Anne Frank (1929-1945) was a German-Dutch diarist whose diary became a powerful testament to the atrocities of the Holocaust.
Throughout history, the name Anne has been a popular choice across various cultures and regions, reflecting its enduring appeal and significance.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Anne
People
Anne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anne 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
Anne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 171,755 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anne 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 1,996 US residents.
Is Anne a common name?
We classify Anne as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 325,475 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anne most popular?
The single biggest year for Anne was 1959, when 5,755 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anne is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Anne a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Anne 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.
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.