Hannah

How to say it

/ˈhæn.ə/

What it means

Hebrew Channah, 'favor' or 'grace.' Mother of the prophet Samuel in the Hebrew Bible; her song of praise is one of the most quoted passages of the Old Testament.

Hannah comes from the Hebrew Channah, 'favor' or 'grace.' In the First Book of Samuel she's the long-childless wife of Elkanah who prays for a son at the temple at Shiloh; her son Samuel becomes the prophet who anoints Israel's first kings. Her song of thanksgiving in 1 Samuel 2 is the model for Mary's Magnificat in the Gospel of Luke. The Greek form is Anna, the Latin Anne or Anna; Hannah is the form closest to the Hebrew, and it's the form Protestant English-speakers favored after the Reformation. Steady top-50 since the 1990s. Hannah is one of the few names that's a palindrome, which some families like and some find a footnote.

Heads-up notes

• Spelling

  Hannah is a palindrome. Some families like that as a small grace note; others find it a footnote that comes up at school but doesn't otherwise register.

Who's worn it

Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.

• Hannah (Bible) Mother of the prophet Samuel; her song of thanksgiving is the model for Mary's Magnificat
• Hannah Arendt German-American political philosopher, The Origins of Totalitarianism
• Hannah Gadsby Australian comedian, Nanette

Spelling variants

• Hanna
• Anna
• Anne
• Channah

Names with the same feeling

• Sarah Princess, noblewoman
• Rebecca To bind, to join
• Rachel Ewe
• Leah Weary, or 'wild cow'
• Abigail Father's joy

See Hannah from another angle