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Anna (name)

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Anna
Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, depicted instructing her daughter in this painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The popularity of the name Anne is largely due to this saint.
Pronunciation/ænə/
GenderFemale
Origin
Word/nameHebrew, Greek, Latin
Meaning"full of grace"
Region of originWorldwide

Name

Anna is a Latin form of the Hebrew name Hannah ([חַנָּה or Channah] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), meaning "favor" or "grace".) Anna is in wide use in countries across the world as are its variants Anne, originally a French version of the name, though in use in English speaking countries for hundreds of years, and Ann, which was originally the English spelling. Saint Anne was traditionally the name of the mother of the Virgin Mary, which accounts for its wide use and popularity among Christians. The name has also been used for numerous saints and queens. Used mainly as a female name, but in Dutch it is used for both female and male (Anne de Vries).

Variant forms

Alternate forms of Anna, including spelling variants, short forms and diminutives include:

People

There are a number of people whose first name and the most significant name was Anna or Anne:

Saint Anna

The form "Saint Anna" (Santa Ana in Spanish, sometimes Santana) is also used in names, for example for Antonio López de Santa Anna, a Mexican soldier-statesman.

  • Saint Anne (or Santa Ana), known by tradition as the mother of The Virgin Mary, and grandmother of Jesus

See also