Hanaa
Meaning "happiness" or "felicity", a feminine name of Arabic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 365 living Americans carry the first name Hanaa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hanaa today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hanaa births was 2010 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hanaa. 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 Hanaa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
365
~ 1 in 939,053 Americans
Peak year
2010
18 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,707
Tracked since 1987
Census
Hanaa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,612 people with the first name Hanaa, which placed it at #8,849 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
#8,849
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,612 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hanaa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hanaa is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.0%). 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 Hanaa 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 Hanaa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.3% · 1,359
- Black or African American5.2% · 84
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 80
- Two or more races4.5% · 72
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 17
Popularity
Hanaa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hanaa from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 128 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Hanaa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hanaa 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 Hanaa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hanaas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hanaa
The name Hanaa is of Arabic origin, derived from the Semitic root "h-n-a," meaning "happiness" or "delight." It is believed to have been in use since ancient times in the Middle East and North Africa.
Hanaa is a variant spelling of the more common Arabic name Hana, which also means "happiness" or "joy." The name is found in various forms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, such as Hana, Hanna, and Hania.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hanaa can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Quran, the name is mentioned in the context of the story of Maryam (Mary), the mother of Prophet Isa (Jesus).
Throughout history, the name Hanaa has been borne by several notable figures. One of the most famous was Hanaa Al-Noursi, a renowned 12th-century Arab poet and scholar from modern-day Syria. Her poetry and literary works have been widely studied and celebrated in the Arab world.
Another notable figure was Hanaa Al-Fadl, an influential 9th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. She made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy during the Islamic Golden Age.
In the 20th century, Hanaa Abdel-Fattah was an Egyptian actress and singer who rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s. She was widely regarded as one of the most influential and iconic actresses of her time in the Arab world.
Hanaa Alshathir was a Sudanese writer and activist who played a significant role in the Sudanese women's rights movement in the late 20th century. She is particularly known for her efforts in promoting literacy and education among women in Sudan.
Additionally, Hanaa Malallah was a prominent Iraqi architect and urban planner who made significant contributions to the development of modern architecture in Iraq in the latter half of the 20th century.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Hanaa, reflecting its enduring presence and significance in various cultural and intellectual spheres across the Arab world.
People
Hanaa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hanaa 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
Hanaa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hanaa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 365 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hanaa 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 939,053 US residents.
Is Hanaa a common name?
We classify Hanaa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 371 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hanaa most popular?
The single biggest year for Hanaa was 2010, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hanaa 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 Hanaa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,612 people with the name Hanaa, or 0.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,849 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 Hanaa 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 Hanaa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hanaa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,616 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Hanaa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hanaa is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.0%). 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 Hanaa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hanaa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.3% (1,359 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 Hanaa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hanaa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hanaa 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 Hanaa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hanaa 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 Hanaa 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 the name Hanaa?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Hanaa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.