Ana

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ana"

English

Etymology 1

From various languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, and Macedonian, all derived—sometimes via Late Latin Anna in the Vulgate—from Koine Greek Ἄννα (Ánna, “Anna”), chiefly in reference to Saint Anne, the apocryphal mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, but appearing in the New Testament in reference to Anna the Prophetess, from Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ, “Hannah”), from חַנָּה (ḥannâ, “grace, gracious, graced with child”). As an Oregonian river, named for Ana Byars, daughter of the surveyor W. H. Byars. Doublet of Ann, Anne, Anna, and Hannah.

Proper noun

Ana

1. A female given name, equivalent to English Anna or Hannah.
2. (with the) A river in Oregon, United States.

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Ana

1. Alternative spelling of Anah, a city in Anbar, Iraq.
   • 2012, David Kennedy et al., Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air, page 114:

     Ana Island and a strip of flat land below the steep banks bordering the Euphrates, some 350 km (220 miles) due east of Palmyra, were occupied for millennia by the buildings of a succession of important settlements...

Etymology 3

Proper noun

Ana

1. An ethnicity within the Yoruba people, mostly living in Benin and Togo in West Africa.
2. The language within the Niger-Congo family spoken by the Ana people.

   Synonym: Ifè

Noun

Ana pl (plural only)

1. A member of the Ana people.

Anagrams

• A.A.N., Aan, naa

Hanunoo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʔana/ [ˈʔɐ.na]
• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: A‧na

Proper noun

Ana (Hanunoo spelling ᜠᜨ)

1. a male given name

Further reading

• Conklin, Harold C. (1953), Hanunóo-English Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics), volume 9, London, England: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 29

Lun Bawang

Proper noun

Ana

1. a female given name

References

• ⁠Ricky Ganang et al. (2008), “Ana”, in Kemaloh Lundayeh–English Dictionary, Borneo Research Council, →OCLC, page 17

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• Anna

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese Ana, from Latin Anna, from Ancient Greek Ἄννα (Ánna), from Hebrew חַנָּה. Doublet of Ane and Hanna.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɐ̃.nɐ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɐ.nɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɐ.nɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈa.nɐ/

• Rhymes: -ɐnɐ
• Hyphenation: A‧na

Proper noun

Ana f (plural Anas)

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Ann, Anna, or Anne

Usage notes

• According to the 2022 Brazilian census, the given name Ana belonged to 3,948,650 individuals in Brazil. It was the country’s 3rd most common given name, corresponding to 1.94% of the total population.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Ana f (genitive/dative Anei)

1. Ana, a female given name, equivalent to English Ann, Anna, or Anne

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /âna/, /ǎːna/
• Hyphenation: A‧na

Proper noun

Ȁna or Ána ? (Cyrillic spelling А̏на or А́на)

1. a female given name, Ana, equivalent to English Ann, Anna, or Anne

Declension

    Declension of Ana

	singular	plural
nominative	Ana	Ane
genitive	Ane	Ana
dative	Ani	Anama
accusative	Anu	Ane
vocative	Ano	Ane
locative	Ani	Anama
instrumental	Anom	Anama

Descendants

• → Pannonian Rusyn: Ана (Ana)

Further reading

• “Ana”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026
• “Ana”, in Portal suvremenih hrvatskih osobnih imena [Portal of contemporary Croatian personal names] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2018–2026

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /àːna/

Proper noun

Ána f

1. Ana, a female given name, equivalent to English Ann, Anne, or Anna

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	Ána
gen. sing.	Áne
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	Ána	Áni	Áne
genitive (rodȋlnik)	Áne	Án	Án
dative (dajȃlnik)	Áni	Ánama	Ánam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	Áno	Áni	Áne
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	Áni	Ánah	Ánah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	Áno	Ánama	Ánami

Further reading

• “Ana”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ)bor.

Ancient Greek Ἄννα (Ánna)bor.

Latin Annalbor.

Spanish Ana

Learned borrowing from Latin Anna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈana/ [ˈa.na]
• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: A‧na

Proper noun

Ana f

1. Ana, a female given name from Latin [in turn from Ancient Greek, in turn from Hebrew], equivalent to English Ann, Anna, Anne, or Hannah
   • 2004, Sebastián Dates, “Ana”, in Lo ingenuos que somos, page 37:

     Ana era la prima de Celina y los chicos de mi clase que la conocían decían que era un bombón y no tenía novio.

     Ana was Celina's cousin and the boys in my class that knew her said that she was a hottie and that she didn't have a boyfriend.

2. Hannah (Biblical figure)
3. Anna (Biblical prophetess)

Derived terms

• Anita