Anna

What is it about Anna that's just so pretty? I just adore little Anna

With a great-great grandmother named Ann, two great grandmothers named Annie, along with a grandmother named Annie, and her daughter, my aunt, with the same name, this makes a great choice. It's fresh, simple, easy to pronounce, and spell. This, along with Caroline, are top contenders if we have a daughter.

My name is Hannah, but I've always liked Anna better. :P The grass is always greener, I guess.

Anna is somewhat pretty, but I find it really bland, especially when pronounced AN-ah. I far prefer variants like Annabeth and Anya, I even find extremely common Hannah more interesting than just Anna.

Classic and beautiful

I'm Russian and, believe me, no one in Russia would ever pronounce this as Ah-na. Ann-a (with a clear double n) is the only proper way as far as I'm concerned.

There's a special beauty in this name.

It's likely that we are interpreting the "ah" sound, when written, differently. However it sounds when a native Spanish speaker makes an 'an' sound, differs from the American 'on' sound.
English speakers tend to morph vowels to sound more accurate and end up overdoing it and you end up with hypercorrection.

That may be your opinion :) As a Latina, I've had family pronounce it ah-na so...yeah.

ON-a vs. ANN-a are quite different sounds, whether said quickly or not.
My only exposure to the ON-a pronunciation has been from Frozen and the actress Anna Faris. This differs from "anne"-a which is an open mouth sound that rhymes with man, can, etc.

Spanish pronunciation of Ana isn't like the American "ONN-a" way of saying this name.

I don't know about that one :( Looks Hawaiian to me.

Thank you! And about Ane, is it the same as Anne?

I'm with you on that!

Nope. Ana is pretty straightforwardly pronounced AH-ah. Especially because of its Latin roots. By default double consonants in English signals a short vowel sound. Like "hopped" vs "hoped" or "ratted vs "rated". Until the Frozen movie, I confidently pronounced the name Anna ANN-ah. After Frozen came out, I'm a little scared to mispronounce the name, so I wait for someone to say the name first and then I will know the preferred pronunciation. I'm just glad I don't know a lot of Annas!

This "English dilemma" is very funny actually. How one or two Ns can make a difference? Aren't double Ns pronounced the same way as one lonely N?

You Called? ;)

*in an angered tone* AAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAA

Haha! My name is Anna....I think

Beautiful name. Pronounced both ways it is still beautiful. Classic and simple yet elegant

Thank you :) Yes, it's pronounced the same in Britain. The accent's different, but that's all.

In the US we mostly do pronounce it like Anne with an A on the end. I always thought it was the same in Britain. Is it not? I agree, in Frozen it was pronounced more like AH-na, but I think if you say on-ah quickly it comes to about the same thing.

"Frozen" has TOTALLY messed up my understanding of the US pronunciation of Anna. In Britain we pronounce it with a short A, and I'd always assumed that the American pronunciation would be like Anne with an A popped on the end. I didn't think "Frozen" pronounced it as ON-a, but rather with a posher accent, like AH-na (even though that distinction actually makes no difference where I come from). Could someone please clear this up for me?

I dislike this name, I think it is boring. Also I feel if you want the Ah-na pronunciation, you should spell it Ana

Exquisitely beautiful - adore Anna.

Where I live (Maryland) it's usually pronounced ah-na but I hear Anna the "regular" way as well. I prefer ah-na.

I agree that the best way to say it would just be to pronounce it like the person with the actual name pronounces it. I don't really mind if people call other people On-ah if that's what they want to be called. But, I personally prefer Ann-a, and it does irritate me when other people call me On-ah just because they want to. I've been called Ann-a since I was born more than a decade ago, and I don't want that to change because everyone wants to call me On-ah. Although, I don't believe either pronunciation is better, I just prefer the one I've been called my entire life.

Beautiful name!

Actually Anna is so ancient and derives from the name "Hannah" and Jews pronounce it "Ah-nah" as does every other culture that have used the name for the better part of a millenium. From Swedes, Finns, Norwegians, Danes, Russians, Germans, French, Spanish, Hawaiian and even Chinese and beyond, for hundreds of years they ALL pronounce it Ah-na. It is only the English language that has the harsh sounding pronunciation of "ANN-na". If one were to do their research, not withstanding "Frozen"'s popularity, the authentic way to pronounce it if you're honoring your heritage that isn't English it's "AH-na". We're Swedish so we say AH-na.

Guess what? In other places, the "Frozen" way IS the correct way, sorry. It really depends on where you live, as another poster said.

That said, I know 2 Annas - one pronounces it Ann-a, the other On-a. Both were born long before the movie came out.

Same... My name is also Anna not Anna pronounced the frozen way.

My name was Anna 14 year before the movie Frozen came out, thank you!

I'm still saying AN-a. It's how most people say it here (UK), as far as I know, regardless of Frozen. ON-a I'd spell Honour/Honor (-or comes out more like -uh when I say it) and Ah-na I'd spell Ana. Tbh, my favourite is Ana.

Why is this page italicised?!

I'd never heard it pronounced ah-nuh before Frozen. If it was, it was always spelt Ana.

Pronunciation depends on where you live. IF someone introficed themself to you as AN-uh, would you call them ON-na? I personally wouldn't. I would say the name as they said it was.

this is my name i pronouce it An-na go reguler pronouceation! I want to bring my version back! It is better than the frozen veryation!

Love that this name in the BEST pronunciation (the same as mine ;P) is on the rise because of Frozen!

From now on, I pronounce it ON-na instead of AN-ah. Go Frozen!