Ana

Meaning of Ana

Born of the Hebrew חַנָּה (Channah) and distilled through the liturgical Latin Anna, the Spanish-speaking world trims the name to the crystalline Ana, a single breath that carries the age-old meaning of “grace” and “divine favor.” Like a well-tuned guitar chord, its pronunciation—AH-nah in Spanish and the slightly softened AH-nuh in broader English—resonates with clarity yet retains a gentle warmth. Historically entwined with Santa Ana, the mother of the Virgin Mary, the name acquired venerable ecclesiastical prestige, while in Latin America it blossomed into compound constructions—Ana María, Ana Sofía, Ana Lucía—that echo through baptismal registers and family stories alike. Literary tradition, too, has woven Ana into its narrative tapestry, from Clarín’s introspective Ana Ozores in “La Regenta” to contemporary poetry where the name becomes shorthand for quiet resilience. In demographic terms, United States birth data reveal a remarkable steadiness: Ana has hovered near the top-200 threshold for more than half a century, ebbing and flowing yet never abandoning the national lexicon, much like a tide that refuses to recede. Thus, Ana stands today as a compact vessel of cultural memory—elegant, transnational, and perennially graceful—waiting to confer its centuries-old benediction upon a new generation.

Pronunciation

Spanish

• Pronunced as AH-nah (/ˈana/)

English

• Pronunced as AH-nuh (/ˈɑnə/)

• Anya
• Anna
• Aria
• Alina
• Ava
• Ariana
• Amara