Ana
A trimmed-down variant of Anna, from the Hebrew for "grace, favour". Rare in Poland: only about 2,500 women carry it, given exclusively to girls and slipping further with each passing year.
Ana Pronunciation
Ana is pronounced AH-nah (/ˈana/).
What Ana means
Where Ana comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ana comes from Hebrew, where the older name Hannah meant grace, or favour. It belongs to one of the oldest name families still common in Poland. The short form kept that meaning while dropping a syllable, and it settled easily into Polish.
It travels with a wide family. Anna and Hanna are the fuller variants, and the diminutives run from Ania and Hania to the more playful Anka and Andzia. A girl might be Ana on an official form at the urząd and Andzia to everyone who knows her.
The meaning stayed close to the root. Grace here is not the gloss it becomes on some names; the Hebrew sense of favour was there from the start. Small name, old meaning: grace, favour.
How many people are named Ana
1 in 8806 women in Poland is named Ana. 2,563 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #627 among female names.
Ana's popularity over time
8 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #757 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2004. Still the #627 name among living women, even as it slips to #757 among newborns.
Where Ana is most popular
Ana is most popular in Masovian, 205% above the national average (16 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+158%) and Łódź (+7%). It is least common in Silesian and Lesser Poland, 41% and 40% below average respectively.
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Masovian16 girls born+205%
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Lower Silesian6 girls born+158%
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Łódź2 girls born+7%
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Pomeranian2 girls born−8%
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Greater Poland2 girls born−37%
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Lesser Poland2 girls born−40%
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Silesian2 girls born−41%
Ana as a middle name
Ana is a first name for 2,563 women in Poland and a middle name for another 231, a 92/8 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 445th, between Benita (232) and Mae (227).
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443
234Dobromiła
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444
232Benita
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445231Ana
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446
227Mae
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447
226Benigna