Nana
A feminine name of Hawaiian origin meaning "beautiful" or "grace."
Name Census estimates that about 2,414 living Americans carry the first name Nana. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Nana today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nana births was 2000 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nana. 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 Nana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 141,986 Americans
Peak year
2000
70 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,097
Tracked since 1881
Census
Nana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,720 people with the first name Nana, which placed it at #2,931 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
#2,931
National first-name rank
People counted
7.7K
7,720 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nana is Black at 56.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.8%). 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 Nana 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 Nana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.3% · 4,346
- White21.3% · 1,645
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.8% · 992
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 527
- Two or more races2.3% · 179
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 31
Gender
Gender distribution for Nana
Nana is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,364 total registrations, 850 (25.3%) were male and 2,514 (74.7%) were female.
Nana as a male name
- Ranked #7,097 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (32 births)
Nana as a female name
- Ranked #7,826 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (47 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nana on both sides of the split. Of the 7,719 people counted with this name, 2,326 were male (30.1%) and 5,393 were female (69.9%).
Popularity
Nana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nana from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 605 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
Nana 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 Nana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, California, Maryland recorded the most babies named Nana, while Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nana
The name Nana has its origins in various cultures and languages around the world, each with their own unique history and significance.
In Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, the word "nana" means "maternal grandmother" or "respectful address for an elderly woman." It is believed to have been used as a term of endearment and respect for older female relatives or elders in the community.
In Greek mythology, Nana was the name of a minor goddess, said to be the daughter of the river god Sangarius. She was associated with fertility and was believed to have nursed the god Zeus when he was an infant.
In Hawaiian culture, the name Nana has been used as a feminine given name, meaning "beautiful" or "grace." It is often associated with the natural beauty of the Hawaiian Islands and the elegance of the Hawaiian people.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Nana is found in ancient Egyptian texts, where it was used as a variant spelling of the name "Naneferkaptah," meaning "beautiful is the soul of Ptah." Ptah was an important deity in Egyptian mythology, associated with creation and craftsmanship.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Nana. For example, Nana Sahib (1824-1857) was an Indian rebel leader who played a significant role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company.
Nana Mouskouri (born 1934) is a Greek singer and politician, renowned for her successful music career spanning over six decades and her political activism in Greece and Europe.
Nana Visitor (born 1957) is an American actress best known for her role as Kira Nerys in the popular science fiction series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."
Nana Mizuki (born 1980) is a Japanese voice actress and singer, known for her work in various anime series and her successful music career, particularly in the J-pop genre.
Nana Patekar (born 1951) is an Indian actor, writer, and filmmaker, who has made significant contributions to the Marathi and Hindi film industries, earning numerous awards and accolades for his performances.
People
Nana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nana as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,414 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nana 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 141,986 US residents.
Is Nana a common name?
We classify Nana as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,364 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nana most popular?
The single biggest year for Nana was 2000, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nana is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,720 people with the name Nana, or 2.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,931 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 Nana 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 Nana?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nana on both sides of the split. Of the 7,719 people counted with this name, 2,326 were male (30.1%) and 5,393 were female (69.9%). 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 Nana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nana is Black at 56.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.8%). 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 Nana most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (4,346 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 Nana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nana a female name?
Yes, 74.7% of people registered as Nana 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 Nana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nana 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 Nana 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 Nana?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.