Hana
A feminine name of Japanese origin meaning "flower" or "blossom".
Name Census estimates that about 12,286 living Americans carry the first name Hana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hana today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hana births was 2005 (416 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hana. 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 Hana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 27,898 Americans
Peak year
2005
416 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2023 SSA rank
#708
Tracked since 1912
Census
Hana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,212 people with the first name Hana, which placed it at #1,883 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
#1,883
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,212 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hana is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.6%) and Two or More Races (12.6%). 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 Hana 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 Hana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.9% · 7,591
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.6% · 3,139
- Two or more races12.6% · 1,923
- Black or African American11.1% · 1,681
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 848
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 30
Gender
Gender distribution for Hana
Out of the 12,579 babies given the name Hana since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Hana as a male name
- Ranked #12,887 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1990 (6 births)
Hana as a female name
- Ranked #708 in 2024
- 395 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (416 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hana appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,211 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Hana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hana from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,829 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Hana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hana 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 Hana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Hana, while Mississippi, Arkansas, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 274 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hana
The name Hana is derived from the Hebrew word "Hannah" which means "grace" or "favor." It has its origins in ancient Semitic languages and can be traced back to the Old Testament of the Bible, where it was the name of one of the wives of Elkanah, and the mother of the prophet Samuel.
In the Bible, Hannah prayed fervently for a child and was granted her wish by God. As a result, the name Hana has come to symbolize fertility, devotion, and answered prayers. The name has been popular among Jewish and Christian communities for centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hana is in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to the 3rd century BCE. The name was also mentioned in ancient Hebrew texts, such as the Talmud and the Midrash.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures named Hana. In the 12th century, Hana Bat Yehuda was a renowned Jewish scholar and poet who lived in Spain. During the Renaissance period, Hana Sarkizova was a Bulgarian noblewoman and philanthropist who founded several schools and hospitals.
In more recent times, Hana Brady (1931-1944) was a young girl who perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust. Her diary, written while in hiding from the Nazis, has become a powerful testament to the horrors of the Holocaust.
Another famous Hana was Hana Mandlikova (born 1962), a Czech tennis player who won four Grand Slam singles titles and was ranked No. 1 in the world in 1985.
Hana Levi-Prat (born 1984) is an Israeli actress and model who has appeared in several popular television shows and films.
The name Hana has also been popular in various cultures around the world, including Japanese, Arabic, and Hawaiian traditions, where it may have slightly different meanings or origins.
People
Hana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hana as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hana 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 27,898 US residents.
Is Hana a common name?
We classify Hana as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,579 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hana most popular?
The single biggest year for Hana was 2005, when 416 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hana is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,212 people with the name Hana, or 5.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,883 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 Hana 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 Hana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hana appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,211 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Hana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hana is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.6%) and Two or More Races (12.6%). 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 Hana most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.9% (7,591 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 Hana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hana a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Hana 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 Hana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hana 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 Hana 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 are called Hana?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.