girl's name
Anne
AN
- Origin Hebrew
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 1
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (France)
- Births on record 709,839
the United States
#619
2025 births
Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace. Our data marks it stable rather than falling, and it charts in six of the seven markets we track with France as its largest.
- Anne is a name of Hebrew origin.
- Peaked in France in 1971, when 6,720 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 10,718 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Anne over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 36,480 |
| 1910s | 29,860 |
| 1920s | 35,935 |
| 1930s | 37,665 |
| 1940s | 45,875 |
| 1950s | 40,025 |
| 1960s | 54,605 |
| 1970s | 46,440 |
| 1980s | 26,235 |
| 1990s | 7,655 |
| 2000s | 1,990 |
| 2010s | 840 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 405 |
What Anne means
Anne means grace, or favor shown. The Hebrew word describes something freely given by God rather than earned, so the sense is closer to a gift than to elegance.
Where Anne comes from
Anne comes through the Latin and Greek Anna from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning grace or favor. Hannah in the Book of Samuel prays for a child and is granted Samuel, and the name carries that association of an answered petition. Christian tradition, though not the Bible, names Anne as the mother of the Virgin Mary, which made her the patron of mothers and grandmothers and spread the name across medieval Europe. The final e is the French addition; English used both Ann and Anne, and the spelling with the e became the standard formal form. Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves and Queen Anne all carried it into English royal history.
Anne in use
Anne peaked in 1971, when 6,720 babies were registered in its largest market, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It ranks 563rd in Ireland, 619th in the United States on 472 births, 676th in Scotland, 723rd in France on 55 and 1115th in England and Wales, across 709,839 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track. France holding the largest share of a name this thoroughly English in association is the kind of thing a single-country chart would never show.
How popular is Anne?
In 2025, Anne was given to 55 babies in France, ranking #723 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Anne is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Anne
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Anne also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Anne over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
3 nicknames for Anne
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Anne in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Armenian
- Anna
- Belarusian
- Anna
- Bulgarian
- Anna
- Catalan
- Anna
- Czech
- Anna
- Greek
- Anna
- Hungarian
- Anna
- Italian
- Anna
- Japanese
- Anna
- Latvian
- Anna
- Polish
- Anna
- Russian
- Anna
- Ukrainian
- Anna
- West Frisian
- Hanne
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Ane
Sibling names for Anne
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Anne — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Anne
What does the name Anne mean?
Grace or favor, from the Hebrew Hannah.
Is it Anne or Ann?
Both are used. The final e is a French addition and became the standard formal spelling in English.
Is Anne in the Bible?
Hannah is. Anne as the mother of the Virgin Mary comes from Christian tradition rather than from scripture.
How popular is Anne?
619th in the United States and 723rd in France, and our data marks it stable.
Is Anne a girl's or a boy's name?
Anne is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Anne?
Anne has 1 syllable.
What are the nicknames for Anne?
Anne is usually shortened to Annie, Nan and Nanny.
Is Anne a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Anne currently ranks #456 in France. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.