Fun Facts About the Name Ania
- More than 3 thousand babies named Ania: U.S. records list 3,314 babies given the name Ania from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Ania Mean?
Ania is a Polish feminine name meaning "grace" or "favor." It is a familiar form of Anna, a name that reached European languages from the Hebrew Ḥannāh (חַנָּה), built on the root ḥ-n-n, "to be gracious, to show favor." The customary translation "grace" or "favored one" follows from that root. A suggested link between Hannah and the Hurrian and Hittite goddess Hannahanna has been proposed, but it is not established, and the Hebrew origin remains the standard explanation.
Ania belongs to a large group of Polish affectionate forms made by softening the last consonant of a name and adding -a: Hania from Hanna, Kasia from Katarzyna, Zosia from Zofia. Polish spells the palatalized "ny" sound with the letters ni before a vowel, so Ania is the same name as Anya, the spelling used for the Russian form, and Anja, the spelling common in German-, Dutch-, and Scandinavian-speaking countries.
Ania Name History & Origins
Anna entered Polish through Greek and Latin. The Hebrew name Hannah appears in the Greek of the New Testament as Anna, the prophetess who greets the infant Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:36), and in the second-century Protoevangelium of James, where Anna is the mother of Mary. From that tradition grew the cult of Saint Anne, which spread widely in medieval Europe and helped make Anna one of the most common women's names in Catholic countries, Poland among them.
In Poland the name belonged to members of the ruling dynasties, including Anna Jagiellon (1523 - 1596), who was elected co-ruler of Poland and Lithuania in 1575 and reigned with her husband, Stephen Báthory. Alongside this formal use, Polish speakers developed a set of everyday forms for Anna - Ania, Anka, Anusia - of which Ania is the one used most often in ordinary speech. Over time it also came to be given as a name in its own right, not only as a nickname for Anna.
Outside Poland, Ania is usually treated in English as one more spelling of Anya or Anja, and the three are often pronounced the same way. The name also has a literary association in Polish: the standard Polish translation of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables renders the heroine's name as Ania, so Polish readers know the character as Ania Shirley.
How Popular is the Name Ania?
Ania has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2006. Its best rank was #1,273 in 2004.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #2,544 | 69 | 0.0043% |
| 2024 | #2,598 | 67 | 0.0042% |
| 2023 | #2,467 | 72 | 0.0045% |
| 2022 | #2,719 | 63 | 0.0038% |
| 2021 | #2,720 | 63 | 0.0038% |
| 2020 | #2,220 | 81 | 0.0050% |
| 2019 | #2,253 | 81 | 0.0048% |
| 2018 | #2,191 | 85 | 0.0050% |
| 2017 | #2,322 | 79 | 0.0046% |
| 2016 | #2,388 | 78 | 0.0044% |
| 2015 | #2,296 | 81 | 0.0045% |
| 2014 | #2,355 | 78 | 0.0044% |
| 2013 | #2,328 | 79 | 0.0045% |
| 2012 | #2,115 | 90 | 0.0051% |
| 2011 | #2,259 | 83 | 0.0047% |
| 2010 | #1,830 | 111 | 0.0062% |
| 2009 | #1,595 | 141 | 0.0077% |
| 2008 | #1,474 | 159 | 0.0084% |
| 2007 | #1,590 | 142 | 0.0074% |
| 2006 | #1,295 | 181 | 0.0095% |
| 2005 | #1,472 | 143 | 0.0077% |
| 2004 | #1,273 | 168 | 0.0091% |
| 2003 | #1,521 | 128 | 0.0070% |
| 2002 | #1,493 | 127 | 0.0071% |
| 2001 | #1,713 | 105 | 0.0058% |
| 2000 | #1,413 | 131 | 0.0072% |
| 1999 | #1,858 | 85 | 0.0048% |
| 1998 | #1,870 | 82 | 0.0046% |
| 1997 | #2,004 | 71 | 0.0041% |
| 1996 | #2,719 | 45 | 0.0026% |
| 1995 | #2,790 | 43 | 0.0024% |
| 1994 | #4,250 | 24 | 0.0013% |
| 1993 | #3,428 | 32 | 0.0018% |
| 1992 | #3,424 | 32 | 0.0017% |
| 1991 | #4,066 | 25 | 0.0013% |
| 1990 | #4,874 | 19 | 0.0010% |
| 1989 | #6,561 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1988 | #5,342 | 15 | 0.0008% |
| 1987 | #5,329 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 1986 | #6,638 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1985 | #4,462 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 1984 | #4,748 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 1983 | #7,345 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1982 | #9,289 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1981 | #9,169 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1980 | #5,256 | 13 | 0.0008% |
| 1979 | #9,075 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1978 | #8,614 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1977 | #6,920 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1976 | #9,353 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1975 | #8,030 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1974 | #7,724 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1973 | #7,481 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1972 | #7,315 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1968 | #6,283 | 6 | 0.0004% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Ania Shapes Your Personality and Life?
Powerful and complete. You are good intellectually and require several outlets for your energies. You are not a builder but a planner, and you want others to carry out your plans. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.
✦ Ania's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Ania's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.