Hana

Hana is a minimalistic spelling alternative to Hannah, an ancient Hebrew name which appears in the Old Testament, in the first Book of Samuel, as the mother of Samuel (one of the most important prophets in Judeo-Christian tradition). In Hebrew Channah means “He (God) has favored me (i.e., with a child)” which makes perfect sense if you are familiar with Hannah’s story in the Bible (1 Samuel 1-2). Unable to bear children “because the Lord closed her womb,” Hannah prayed mightily to the Lord for a son promising to “give him to the Lord all the days of his life.” God hears Hannah’s prayers and “favors” her with a son (Samuel), hence the meaning of the name. After the child is weaned (about the age of four or five in Biblical times), Hannah keeps her promise and turns her young son over to the priest Eli to raise Samuel in the service of God. It’s a good thing that God listened to the prayers of Hannah because Samuel would go on to become one of Israel’s greatest leaders; it was Samuel who ushered in the Israel monarchy by anointing its first two kings, Saul and David (but then again, that was probably part of God’s grand plan anyway). Channah or Chana are names rooted in Hebrew tradition, while Hannah is more or less the English version, popularized by the Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries after the Protestant Reformation. The spelling of Hana is the version used among many Slavic nations – specifically Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia (Hana is a Top 25 female name in all of these countries). But wait. We’re not finished yet. There are actually two more etymologies for the name Hana – giving you more bang for your buck when you select this particular name for your baby daughters. In Arabic, Hana (هناء) means “bliss, happiness, felicity”. And, thirdly, Hana – usually rendered by the kanji 花 or 華 in Japanese – means “flower, blossom”. We might also mention that Hana is a place name, as in Hana, Hawaii (and if you’ve ever survived the “road to Hana” in Maui, you know what a magical place it is!). In the Hawaiian language, the word “hana” means “work, labor”.