Holding steady, #14,942 for girls today.
Popularity of Hanya since 1945
Babies named Hanya per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 2006, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Hanya's real moment was 1945.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1940s | 6 |
| 1950s | 0 |
| 1960s | 0 |
| 1970s | 0 |
| 1980s | 0 |
| 1990s | 7 |
| 2000s | 28 |
| 2010s | 46 |
| 2020s | 24 |
Meaning & origin
Hanya is a rare Japanese name meaning 'wisdom', with roots in Buddhist terminology. In the United States, it first appeared in birth records in 1945, which also remains its peak year of use. The name has a stable trajectory, with minimal fluctuation in popularity. As of 2025, Hanya ranks 14,942, with approximately 1 in every 321,453 baby girls given this name. It is not commonly used, and its top states are not recorded due to low frequency.
Hanya is derived from the Japanese word 般若 (hannya), a term for wisdom or prajna in Buddhism. It is also the name of a type of female demon in Japanese Noh theater, which may have influenced its use as a name. In modern times, Hanya has been used as a given name influenced by its phonetic appeal.
“Hanya” around the world
Where Hanya lands in the latest official birth statistics abroad, matched to the U.S. spelling.
France
20
babies in 2024
Sources: INSEE (France).
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Han, Ya-chan, Hanny
Variants: Hannya
Sibling names for Hanya
Names that share Hanya's style, for a brother or sister.
