Given name
Anu
“a woman graced with God's favor”
In Finnish use, Anu is an affectionate form of Anna. One Latin interpretation is “a woman graced with God's favor.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
In Finnish use, Anu is an affectionate form of Anna. One Latin interpretation is “a woman graced with God's favor.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
In English use, Anu is a diminutive of Anisha. An origin associated with Anisha is Hindi.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In Finnish usage, Anu is an affectionate form of Anna. In English usage, Anu is a diminutive of Anisha.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1972. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Anu through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 367
- 85 boys · 282 girls
- Most popular year
- 2023
- 25 babies
- 2025
- 9
- #8,308 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +67%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 9 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 8,308 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,734 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Anu’s family of names
In Finnish usage, Anu is an affectionate form of Anna. In Finnish usage, Anu has a conventional equivalent in the Czech form Hana. In Estonian usage, Anu has a related form in Anna.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Anu has relatives in 5 languages.
8 related names in 5 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 6
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Anu
- Anu MalikIndian music director and singer (born 1960)
- Anu TaliEstonian conductor (born 1972)
- Anu Aggarwalmodel and actressborn 1969
- Anu AgaIndian billionaireborn 1942
- Anu KaalEstonian opera singer, music educator and actor (born 1940)
- Anu VehviläinenFinnish politicianborn 1963
- Anu PrabhakarIndian Kannada actressborn 1974
- Anu NieminenFinnish badminton playerborn 1977
- Anu MalhotraIndian filmmakerborn 1961
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Anu, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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