Anna
More than a million Polish women carry it, yet it's handed down far less often than it once was. The root is Hebrew, where it means grace: a favor freely given.
Anna Pronunciation
Anna is pronounced AHN-nah (/ˈanna/).
What Anna means
Where Anna comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Anna comes from the Hebrew Hannah, from a root meaning grace, or favour. In the Hebrew Bible, Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel, and her song of thanks is one of the oldest passages in that book. The name passed through Greek and Latin into Anna, and reached Polish records by the medieval period.
In Poland it grew a family around it. Hanna and Hana stand as full variants, while Hania and Haneczka are the diminutives a child hears at home. Call the name across a school register and you might hear several answer at once.
The meaning is grace. In Polish that is łaska and wdzięk.
Name-day falls on 26 July, shared with Saint Anne, by tradition the mother of Mary. Grandmothers named Anna often keep that imieniny as a holiday of their own. On official forms the name reads Anna; at home it shortens to Hania.
When Anna celebrates name day
Anna appears 8 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 26 July.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Anna
1 in 21 women in Poland is named Anna. 1,068,341 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1 among female names.
Anna's popularity over time
1,147 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #62 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #1 name among living women, even as it slips to #62 among newborns.
Where parents choose Anna
Anna is most popular in Lesser Poland, 25% above the national average (1,695 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Podlaskie (+10%) and Masovian (+6%). It is least common in Łódź and Holy Cross, both 15% below average.
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Lesser Poland
+25%1 in 134 babies
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Podlaskie
+10%1 in 153 babies
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Masovian
+6%1 in 159 babies
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Łódź
−15%1 in 198 babies
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Holy Cross
−15%1 in 197 babies
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Greater Poland
−14%1 in 195 babies
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Lesser Poland+25% 1,695 born1 in 134 babies+25%
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Podlaskie+10% 430 born1 in 153 babies+10%
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Masovian+6% 2,229 born1 in 159 babies+6%
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Opole+6% 291 born1 in 158 babies+6%
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Lower Silesian+4% 979 born1 in 161 babies+4%
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Silesian+2% 1,387 born1 in 164 babies+2%
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Pomeranian+1% 883 born1 in 167 babies+1%
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Subcarpathian−3% 700 born1 in 172 babies−3%
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Lubusz−5% 281 born1 in 177 babies−5%
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West Pomeranian−7% 468 born1 in 180 babies−7%
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Lublin−8% 565 born1 in 182 babies−8%
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Warmian-Masurian−10% 384 born1 in 187 babies−10%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−13% 565 born1 in 194 babies−13%
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Greater Poland−14% 1,106 born1 in 195 babies−14%
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Łódź−15% 640 born1 in 198 babies−15%
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Holy Cross−15% 282 born1 in 197 babies−15%
Anna as a middle name
Anna is a first name for 1,068,341 women in Poland and a middle name for another 896,998, a 54/46 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 2nd, between Maria (1,481,845) and Katarzyna (417,647).
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#1 Maria1,481,845
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#2 Anna896,998
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#3 Katarzyna417,647
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#4 Barbara403,010
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#5 Ewa372,483