Chanah
A Hebrew feminine name meaning "grace" or "favor".
Name Census estimates that about 190 living Americans carry the first name Chanah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chanah today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chanah births was 1997 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chanah. 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 Chanah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
190
~ 1 in 1,803,970 Americans
Peak year
1997
11 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,656
Tracked since 1975
Census
Chanah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 187 people with the first name Chanah, which placed it at #40,012 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
#40,012
National first-name rank
People counted
187
187 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chanah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chanah is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Chanah 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 Chanah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.0% · 144
- Black or African American9.1% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 9
- Two or more races4.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 8
Popularity
Chanah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chanah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 72 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chanah 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 Chanah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chanahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chanah
The name Chanah is a Hebrew name that originates from the biblical figure Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel. It is derived from the Hebrew root "chen," meaning grace or favor. The name first appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, in the Book of Samuel, where Hannah is described as a pious and devoted woman who prayed fervently for a child.
In the biblical story, Hannah was initially barren, but after praying at the temple in Shiloh, she conceived and gave birth to Samuel, who later became a prominent prophet and judge in ancient Israel. The name Chanah has since been associated with the virtues of faith, patience, and perseverance, as Hannah's story exemplifies the power of prayer and unwavering devotion to God.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chanah outside of the biblical text can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating back to the 3rd century BCE. The name appears in various forms, including "Hanna" and "Hannah," reflecting its linguistic evolution over time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chanah. In the 1st century CE, there was Chanah ben Dosa, a Jewish scholar and miracle worker who lived in Galilee during the time of the Second Temple. In the 18th century, Chanah Rochel Werbermacher, also known as the Maiden of Ludmir, was a renowned Jewish mystic and leader of the Hasidic movement in Ukraine.
In more recent times, Chanah Senesh (1921-1944) was a celebrated Hungarian-Israeli poet and soldier who sacrificed her life in service to the Jewish resistance during World War II. Chanah Maor (1918-2007) was an Israeli author and educator who played a significant role in promoting Hebrew literature and culture.
Another notable figure was Chanah Meiras (1888-1964), a Polish-born American Zionist leader who dedicated her life to advocating for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Her tireless efforts and lobbying played a crucial role in garnering international support for the creation of the State of Israel.
These are just a few examples of the many influential individuals who have carried the name Chanah throughout history, each leaving an indelible mark on their respective fields and communities.
People
Chanah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chanah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chanah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chanah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 190 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chanah 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 1,803,970 US residents.
Is Chanah a common name?
We classify Chanah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 195 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chanah most popular?
The single biggest year for Chanah was 1997, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chanah is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chanah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 187 people with the name Chanah, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,012 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 Chanah 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 Chanah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chanah leans strongly female. 178 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 4 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Chanah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chanah is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Chanah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chanah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (144 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 Chanah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chanah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chanah 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 Chanah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chanah 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 Chanah 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 share the name Chanah?
Find out how many Americans are named Chanah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.