Hannah

Etymology

From the Hebrew root 'chen' (חֵן), meaning grace, favour, or charm. The same root gives us the male name John (Yochanan — 'God is gracious'). Hannah/Anna is one of the most fertile name roots in the biblical tradition.

Who they were

Hannah's story opens in grief. She was one of two wives of Elkanah — loved by her husband but unable to bear children, while his other wife Peninnah had many. Peninnah taunted her relentlessly. Year after year Hannah went to the tabernacle at Shiloh, and year after year she wept and could not eat. One year she prayed with such desperate intensity — lips moving but no sound coming out — that the priest Eli thought she was drunk. She told him she was pouring out her soul before God. Eli blessed her. She went home, conceived, and bore a son she named Samuel — 'because I asked the Lord for him.' Her prayer of dedication (1 Samuel 2:1-10) is one of the great poems in the Bible. It begins 'My heart rejoices in the Lord' and moves through themes of reversal — the barren woman bears seven, the rich go hungry, the poor are lifted from the ash heap — that Mary's Magnificat would later echo almost word for word. When Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him to the tabernacle and gave him to God. Every year she made him a little robe and brought it when she came for the annual sacrifice. She had asked for one child. God gave her five more. Her story defines what prayer looks like when it costs everything — and what faithfulness looks like when the answer arrives.

Family

Spouse

Elkanah

Children

Samuel,three more sons,two daughters

Character qualities

• Relentless prayer
• Willingness to give back what was given
• Poetic expression of faith
• Endurance under provocation
• Radical generosity

Key verse

1 Samuel 1:27

Where they appear

Themes

Variants & related forms

Hanna · Anna · Anne · Ann · Channah

Related names