Anne

Where Anne comes from

From French Anne (“Ann”), from Late Latin Anna chiefly in reference to St Anne the apocryphal mother of Mary mother of Jesus but appearing in the Vulgate in reference to Anna the Prophetess, from Koine Greek Ἄννα (Ánna) in the New Testament, from Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ, “Hannah”), from חַנָּה (ḥannâ, “grace, gracious, graced with child”). Occasionally reborrowed from languages who adopted the name from English. Very infrequently from Estonian abbreviation of Anna instead. Doublet of Ann, Ana, Anna, and Hannah. Compare John.
— Wiktionary's entry for Anne
  • French
  • Germanic
  • 1 syllable
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1501
    Anne Boleyn born
    second wife of Henry VIII of England
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #120 among girls — 136 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1915
    Peak, #52
    4,333 babies named Anne — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1929
    Anne Frank born
    German-born Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim
  5. 1985
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #146.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from French.
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages, of mainly French and Frisian usage, see Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
Namesakes
  • Anne Frank · German-born Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim, 1929–1945
  • Anne Boleyn · second wife of Henry VIII of England, 1501–1536
  • Anne of Great Britain · Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1702 to 1714, 1665–1714
  • Anne Bancroft · American actress, 1931–2005
  • Anne Baxter · American actress, 1923–1985

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.