Fana

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Fanna in NL Netherlands.

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 in 1 language 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◐

Fana is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname2.2K records spelled Fana9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Dominican Republic, United States, Spain, Peru

  Also written Faña, Faná, Faňa, Fańa, Fåñä

• French given name1.1K records spelled Fana6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, South Africa, United States, Spain

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Faña, Fäńą, Fànà

• Amharic given name994 records spelled Fana3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Sweden, United States, Ethiopia, South Africa

  Also written ፋና, Faña

• Portuguese given name810 records spelled Fana6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in South Africa, Brazil, United States, Spain

  Also written Faña, Fanã, Faná, Fána, Fäna

• a separate given name575 records spelled Fana6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ethiopia, India, United States, Morocco

  Also written Faná, Fanā, Fäna, Fanâ, Faña

• Hindi given name517 records spelled Fana3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, South Africa, United States, Pakistan

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Faña

• Russian given name511 records spelled Fana21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia

  Languages: Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian

  Also written Фана, Fanâ, Fanna, Făňă, Фанна

47 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●

Fana 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 French, third-person singular past historic of faner

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

• In Swahili, to be enjoyable, be successful

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

• In English, plural of fanum

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

• Spiritual joy; spirited day.

  as a name·The African book of names

• light.

  as a name·African Names

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●

SE SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023) — 22 years between 1999–2020. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Fana Soumahb. 1969GNGuinean journalist

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 · 162 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Fana?

We estimate roughly 702 people bear Fana (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Fana have the most bearers?

Fana is most frequently recorded in South Africa, where it is most often spelled fana.

Is Fana a male or female name?

Fana is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Fana mean?

Recorded meaning: Amharic/Tigrinya: 'light'; also a West African word meaning 'jungle'.