Anja

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ania in PL Poland, FR France, ES Spain and 10 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Anja is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Hindi given name5.9K records spelled Anja5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Netherlands, Finland

  Languages: Hindi, Assamese, Urdu

  Also written Àñjà

• Albanian given name3.0K records spelled Anja2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, Serbia, Netherlands

  Also written Anjã

56 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Anja is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, a female given name from Russian, popular in the late 20th century

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, in Deutschland seit den i94oer-Jahren vorkommender weibl. Vom., russische Form von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In Swedish, Anja är ursprungligen en slavisk smekform till → Anna. En känd namnbärare är Anja Pärson (f. 1981), svensk alpin skidåkare. I den finlandssvenska almanackan 22 oktober.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In sqj-pro, to breathe

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In mij, water

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 71 years between 1924–2015. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Armi Aavikkob. 1958FInot in their usual nameFinnish beauty queen and singer (1958–2002)
• Anja Jaenickeb. 1963DEGerman actress
• Anja Andersenb. 1969DKDanish handball player
• Anja Karliczekb. 1971DEGerman politician
• Anja Pärsonb. 1981SESwedish female alpine skier
• Anja Rubikb. 1983PLPolish model
• Anja Mittagb. 1985DEGerman footballer
• Anja Nissenb. 1995AUDanish-Australian pop singer
• Anya Taylor-Joyb. 1996USnot in their usual nameactress (born 1996)
• Anya Chalotrab. 1996GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 775 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Anja?

We estimate roughly 61 thousand people bear Anja (counting its spellings and scripts) across 15 countries in our records.

In which country does Anja have the most bearers?

Anja is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled anja.

Where is Anja most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Anja is densest in Slovenia — about 1 in 241 people — even though Germany holds more of our records for it.

How common is Anja compared with other names?

In Germany, Anja is the 67th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Anja a male or female name?

Anja is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Anja mean?

Recorded meaning: a female given name from Russian А́ня (Ánja, “Annie”, pet form), equivalent to English Anya