Hosanna
An exclamation of praise and adoration, derived from Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 1,702 living Americans carry the first name Hosanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hosanna today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hosanna births was 2024 (131 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hosanna. 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 Hosanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Hosanna is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 201,383 Americans
Peak year
2024
131 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,596
Tracked since 1972
Census
Hosanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,272 people with the first name Hosanna, which placed it at #10,466 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
#10,466
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,272 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hosanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hosanna is White at 43.7%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (17.8%). 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 Hosanna 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 Hosanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.7% · 556
- Black or African American18.6% · 236
- Hispanic or Latino17.8% · 226
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.6% · 147
- Two or more races7.9% · 100
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 7
Popularity
Hosanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hosanna from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 679 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hosanna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hosanna 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 Hosanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hosannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Hosanna, while Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hosanna
The name Hosanna has its origins in ancient Aramaic and Hebrew languages, tracing back to the time of the Old Testament. It is derived from the phrase "hosha na," which translates to "save now" or "please save." This phrase was often used as an exclamation of praise or a cry for help.
The name Hosanna gained significant religious and historical importance during the time of Jesus Christ. According to the New Testament, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, crowds of people welcomed him by waving palm branches and shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9). This event, known as the Triumphal Entry, marked the beginning of the Passion of Christ and is celebrated annually by Christians on Palm Sunday.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hosanna can be found in the 4th century AD. Saint Hosanna (c. 370–450) was a Christian hermit who lived in the deserts of Egypt. She is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
In the 6th century, Hosanna Andree (c. 540–600) was a Frankish abbess and the founder of the Abbey of Menat in central France. She is recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
During the Middle Ages, the name Hosanna was relatively uncommon, but it gained some popularity in certain regions. One notable figure from this period was Hosanna Roiz (c. 1280–1350), a Spanish-Jewish poet and scholar who lived in the Kingdom of Aragon.
In the 16th century, Hosanna Mercier (c. 1520–1582) was a French Protestant martyr who was executed for her faith during the French Wars of Religion.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Hosanna was Hosanna Manardo (1681–1749), an Italian composer and organist who served as the maestro di cappella at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna.
Throughout history, the name Hosanna has been used across various cultures and religions, reflecting its deep-rooted symbolic meaning as an expression of praise, joy, and supplication.
People
Hosanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hosanna as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hosanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hosanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,702 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hosanna 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 201,383 US residents.
Is Hosanna a common name?
We classify Hosanna as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,726 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hosanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Hosanna was 2024, when 131 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hosanna is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hosanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,272 people with the name Hosanna, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,466 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 Hosanna 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 Hosanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hosanna leans strongly female. 1,238 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 30 male bearers (2.4%). 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 Hosanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hosanna is White at 43.7%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (17.8%). 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 Hosanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hosanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.7% (556 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 Hosanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hosanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hosanna 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 Hosanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hosanna 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 Hosanna 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 have the name Hosanna?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.