Ania
A feminine Polish variant of the name Anna of Greek origin meaning "grace" or "favor".
Name Census estimates that about 3,190 living Americans carry the first name Ania. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ania today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ania births was 2006 (181 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ania. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ania with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 107,447 Americans
Peak year
2006
181 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,598
Tracked since 1968
Census
Ania in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,959 people with the first name Ania, which placed it at #4,633 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,633
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
3,959 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
33.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ania
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ania is Black at 33.1%. The next largest groups are White (30.1%) and Hispanic (29.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ania described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ania at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American33.1% · 1,311
- White30.1% · 1,193
- Hispanic or Latino29.2% · 1,157
- Two or more races4.6% · 184
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 94
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 20
Popularity
Ania: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ania from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,425 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ania by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ania during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ania, while Minnesota, Alabama, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 76 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ania
The given name Ania is derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor." It has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture and appears in religious texts such as the Bible, where it is the name of the mother of the prophet Samuel.
Ania is a diminutive or pet form of the name Anna, which is the Latin and Greek version of Hannah. The name Anna has been widely used across various cultures and regions, including Europe, Russia, and the Middle East.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ania can be found in medieval Polish records, where it was a common diminutive form of Anna. It gained popularity in Poland and other Slavic countries, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Ania. One such figure is Ania Dluska (1900-1963), a Polish actress and singer who rose to fame in the interwar period. Another is Ania Walwicz (born 1951), an Australian poet and artist known for her experimental works.
The name Ania has also been associated with literary characters, such as Ania Shirley, the protagonist of the beloved children's novel "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942). This character's name is often spelled as "Anne" in English, but it is pronounced similarly to Ania.
In the world of sports, Ania Bleszynski (born 1976) is a notable Polish handball player who competed in several Olympic Games and won multiple medals for her country.
Ania Bukstein (born 1983) is an Israeli actress and model who has appeared in various television series and films, including the popular show "Fauda."
While the name Ania may have evolved from its Hebrew roots, it has gained popularity and cultural significance across different regions, particularly in Eastern Europe and Slavic countries, where it has become a beloved and widely used diminutive form of Anna.
People
Ania + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ania as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ania: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ania?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,190 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ania going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 107,447 US residents.
Is Ania a common name?
We classify Ania as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,245 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ania most popular?
The single biggest year for Ania was 2006, when 181 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ania is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ania in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,959 people with the name Ania, or 1.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,633 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ania in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ania?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ania appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,952 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ania?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ania is Black at 33.1%. The next largest groups are White (30.1%) and Hispanic (29.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ania most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ania in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.1% (1,311 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ania in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ania a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ania in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ania still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ania in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ania can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Ania as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Ania on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.