Hannah (given name)

For other uses, see Hannah (disambiguation).

Hannah
Gender	Female
Origin
Word/Name	Hebrew
Meaning	"Grace", "He (God) has favoured me/favours me"
Other names
Related names	Hanna, Channa, Hana, Anna, Ana, Ann, Anne

Hannah is a personal name, also spelt Hanna, Hana, or Chana, deriving from the Hebrew language חַנָּה (Ḥannah), meaning "He (God) has favoured me/favours me (i.e. with a child)", or "gracious". The name is biblical as it is the name of the mother of the prophet Samuel. Hannah had been unable to bear children, so she prayed at the temple that if God gave her a son, she would give him up to become a priest. When the child, Samuel, was born, she gave him to Eli to be raised as a priest (1 Samuel 1:2). The 'Hannah' spelling of the name was taken up as a given name by the Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries and has always been a common Jewish name.^[1] Hannah is also a surname; see Hannah (surname). Ann (and Anne, Anna etc.) are derived from Hannah. The Punic name Hannibal derives, it is supposed, from the same root. The name Hannah is a palindrome – a word or phrase that reads the same in both directions. Hannah is a very common first name - it was ranked #23 for girls' names in 2009.^[where?]

With the given name Hannah:

• Hannah Arendt (1906–1975), German philosopher
• Hannah Ayscough (1623–1679), mother of Sir Isaac Newton
• Hannah Callowhill Penn (1671–1727), second wife of William Penn
• Hannah Chaplin (1865–1928), mother of Charlie Chaplin
• Hannah Cowley (1743–1809), American dramatist and poet
• Hannah Dakota Fanning American actress, better known as Dakota Fanning
• Hannah Duston (1657 – c. 1736) Indian fighter.
• Hannah Friedman (born 1986), American writer, director, and musician
• Hannah Glasse (1708–1770), English cookbook writer
• Hannah Gordon (born 1941), Scottish actress
• Hanna Hammarström (1829-1909), Swedish inventor
• Hannah Harper (born 1982), English pornographic actress
• Hannah Hauxwell (born 1926), Yorkshire Dales farmer
• Hannah Höch (1889–1978), German Dada artist
• Hannah Ild (born 1981), Estonian singer
• Hannah More (1745–1833), English religious writer and philanthropist
• Hannah Peckham (born 1980), British game show host
• Hannah Pingree, majority leader from Maine in the United States House of Representatives
• Hannah Pritchard (1711–1768), English actress
• Hannah Robinson, British songwriter
• Hannah Spearritt (born 1981) English singer and actress
• Hannah Stockbauer (born 1982), German swimmer
• Hannah Storm (born 1962), American co-host of The Early Show
• Hannah Szenes (1921–1944), Hungarian Jew arrested during the Second World War
• Hannah Tan, Malaysian singer-songwriter
• Hannah Taylor-Gordon (born 1987) English actress, Anne Frank: The Whole Story
• Hannah Teter (born 1987), American snowboarder
• Hannah Tointon (born 1987), British actress
• Hannah Van Buren (1783–1819), wife of the 8th president of the United States, Martin Van Buren
• Hannah Vogt (1910–1994), a German historian
• Hannah Webster Foster (1758–1840), American novelist
• Hannah Weiner (1928–1997), American poet
• Hannah Whitall Smith (1832–1911), American lay speaker and author during the Holiness movement
• Hannah Wilke (1940–1993), American painter, sculptor and photographer
• Hannah Wood (born 1983), American poet and actress, sister of Elijah Wood
• Hannah (singer), Australian pop singer

With the given name Hanna:

• Hanna Fahl (born 1978), Swedish music journalist and translator
• Hanna Grönvall (1879-1953), Swedish politician
• Hanna Holborn Gray (born 1930), American historian and professor
• Hanna Jaltner (born 1976), Swedish breaststroke swimmer
• Hanna Karasiova (born 1978), Belarusian archer
• Hanna Lindberg, Swedish politician, the first woman in a communal council (1910)
• Hanna Ljungberg (born 1979), Swedish soccer player
• Hanna Meron (born 1923), Israeli actress
• Hanna Newcombe (born 1922), Canadian peace activist
• Hanna Pakarinen (born 1981), Finnish pop singer
• Hanna van Recklinghausen (born 1332), banker
• Hanna Reitsch (1912–1979), German test pilot
• Hanna Rovina (1892–1980), Israeli actress and the original "First Lady of Hebrew Theatre"
• Hanna Schygulla (born 1948), German actress and singer
• Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington (1877–1946), Irish feminist, wife of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
• Hanna Suchocka (born 1946), Prime Minister of Poland from 1992–1993
• Hanna Styrell (1842–1904), Swedish actress
• Hanna Zemer (1925-2003), Israeli journalist

With the given name Chana:

• Chana Orloff (1888–1968), Ukraine-born sculptor

Fictional characters:

• Hannah Abbott, character in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• Hannah Annafellows, character in the 2010 Black Butler anime sequel. Voiced by Aya Hirano
• Hannah Ashworth, character portrayed by Emma Rigby on the English soap opera Hollyoaks

• Hannah Martin, character portrayed by Rebecca Ritters on the Australian soap opera Neighbours
• Hannah Montana, alter ego of Miley Cyrus' character in the television show of the same name
• Hanna-Justina Marseille, a character from the anime/manga Strike Witches
• Hanna Rudel, a character from the anime/manga series Strike Witches
• Hanna Wind, a character from the anime/manga Strike Witches
• Hanna Marin a character from the TV and Book series Pretty Little Liars and in the TV series is portrayed by Ashley Benson
• Hannah, character in the 1986 Woody Allen film, Hannah and Her Sisters, portrayed by Mia Farrow.

Biblical characters:

• Hannah (Bible), a character from the Books of Samuel
• Saint Anne or Hannah, the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus

See also

• Anna (given name)
• Hana (given name)

References

1. ^ "Behind the Name: Jewish Names". behindthename.com. 2011 [last update]. http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/jew2.php. Retrieved 7 April 2011.