Anja
A rare name in Poland: only about 300 women carry it, so most Poles have never met one. Slavic at root, with the sense of "grace".
Anja Pronunciation
Anja is pronounced AHN-yah (/ˈanja/).
What Anja means
Where Anja comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Anja belongs to a Slavic family of names that gathers around Anna and Hanna. It reads as a variant, softened at the edges, sharing the root Polish speakers hear in the diminutive Ania or the blunter Anka. The name settled into German and Scandinavian use, where this spelling stands on its own.
The meaning most people attach to it is grace, łaska in Polish. That sense came through Anna rather than from the Slavic sounds themselves, fastened to the name across centuries of Christian Europe. The link is old. A girl called Anja answers to a word for favour that predates her by a long stretch.
On a school class register, Anja might sit between an Andzia and a Hania, other forms of the same name. Different spellings, one grace.
How many people are named Anja
1 in 74648 women in Poland is named Anja. 302 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1737 among female names.
Anja's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Anja as a middle name
Anja is a first name for 302 women in Poland and a middle name for another 66, an 82/18 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 834th, between Rosalia (67) and Cynthia (66).
-
#832 Kelly67
-
#833 Rosalia67
-
#834 Anja66
-
#835 Cynthia66
-
#836 Floriana66