Nana

Did you know?

A few things about Nana you might not know, from US birth records and Wikipedia. Handy for convincing a partner, or a grandparent.

⭐ Famous Nana

Nana Alexandria

Georgian chess player

Choose Nana and your child shares a first name with Nana Alexandria, a Georgian chess player. A ready-made answer when someone asks “Nana, like who?” Nana Alexandria's Wikipedia article is available in 35 languages, a good sign of just how widely known they are.

Read about Nana Alexandria on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Bert Verhoeff / Anefo, CC0 (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

• 👶How commonAbout 1 in every 100,000 baby girls born in the US in 2025 was named Nana, 16 babies in all. In a typical school of 500 kids, your Nana would very likely be the only one.
• 📜HistoryNana first shows up in US birth records in 1881, the first year at least 5 babies got it. It has been in use for 144 years since.
• 🏆Best yearIt was far more popular in 1881, when it ranked #582. Today it's #6,838, so it could be due a comeback.
• 📉Then vs nowNana was 2.6× more common in 2000 than it is today. In 2000 it was given to about 1 in 38,610 baby girls; in 2025, about 1 in 100,000.
• 🍂TrendNana has slipped 1,958 places over the last five years and now sits at #6,838. Good news if you want a familiar name that fewer kids will share.
• ⚖️Boy or girlNana is given to both boys and girls: 50% of the 32 babies named Nana in 2025 were boys. That makes it one of the names that truly works for either.

About the name Nana

Nana is a girl name of African, English and Hawaiian origin. It has 4 letters and 2 syllables, starting with N and ending in “-ana”. US birth records list Nana for girls from 1881 to 2025, in 141 of those 145 years. Its best year was 1881, when it ranked #582 among girl names. In 2025 it ranked #6,838, with 16 babies.

Origin:African namesEnglish namesHawaiian namesHebrew namesJapanese namesSpanish names