Name Ana Origin, meaning, pronunciation & popularity of the name Ana

Ana is a ♀ girl’s name.

What is the origin of the name Ana?

Ana is an e.g. Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian and Serbian variant of Anna, that itself is a form of the Hebrew name Hannah.
Ana is a palindrome name, it can be spelled the same way forward or backward.

What does the name Ana mean?

Ana means “favor”, “grace” and “gracious”, “merciful” or “He (God) has favored me” (from Hebrew “ḥen/חֵן” = grace/favor or “ḥanán/חָנַן” = to show favor/to be gracious).

Ana as a variation of the classic name Anna

While Anna has been a popular first name in English speaking countries for many decades, the variation Ana is rather rare. The name Ana is mostly found in the European Mediterranean region, in South America our Eastern Europe. So if you want to give a popular name a special twist, Ana is a good choice. Since Ana is a very short first name, you can combine it with a longer middle name, for example Ana Tabitha, Ana Selena, Ana Carolina, Ana Julietta or Ana Isabella.

Known women named Ana

• Ana de Armas (born 1988) is a Cuban-Spanish actress born in Havana. Ana first got her start in Spanish-language film, and for several years has also appeared in English-language productions. She gained greater notoriety for her role in “Knives Out – Murder is a Family Affair” (2019) and her performance in the latest James Bond film “James Bond 007: No Time to Die” from 2021.
• An actress of Mexican heritage is Ana de la Reguera, who was born in 1977 in Veracruz. In 2015, she was part of the famous TV show “Narcos”, which tells the story of the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. Since 2020, Ana de la Reguera created her own TV series called “Ana”, where she plays the lead role. The show is about the struggles of growing up to be a part of the beauty industry and inventing oneself new in a late adolescence.
• A woman in politics is Ana Navarro, a Nicaraguan-American political strategist and commentator. 1971 born Ana is part of the Republican Party and calls herself a centralist. Even though she is republican, Ana strongly opposed the candidacy of Donald Trump in 2016 and stated publicly, that she will vote for the Democratic Party. Ana also supports progressive politic movements, such as the demand for same-sex marriage.

Ana in pop culture

• The protagonist of the popular book series “50 Shades of Grey” by author E.L. James is named Ana Steele. Her real name is Anastasia, but she is called Ana by everyone. Originally, this worldwide very successful book series was a fanfiction to Stephanie Meyer’s vampire saga “Twilight”, but it developed into a mega franchise of its own. The book series was made into a film starring Dakota Johnson (born 1989) and Jamie Dornan (born 1982) as Ana Steele and Christian Grey.
• The Canadian indie band “Mother Mother” released a song called Oh Ana on their album “Touch Up” in 2007.

Pronunciation of Ana

Variants of the name Ana

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