Anu

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Anu: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Anu: Recorded since 1996, it reached #635 in 2006, and it was last ranked in 2016.

2registrars recorded it
13times a registrar ranked it
21years from first to last
#635highest recorded position
3groupings it qualifies for

Region

Falling

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2016

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#3795
2000	#2746
2001	#3262
2005	#3970
2007	#5201
2008	#3860
2016	#5785

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in 7 of the 21 years from 1996 to 2016.

In 2016: #868 among girls in Republic of Ireland, #5785 among girls in England and Wales.

Official data from 2 national registrars across 2 regions, 1996–2016 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #3795 among girls in England and Wales in 1996 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Highest recorded2003–2016
Highest recorded position: #635 among girls in Republic of Ireland, in 2006 (recorded 2003–2016).
Republic of Ireland · Girls
Most recent2016
Most recently recorded at #5785 among girls in England and Wales, in 2016.
England and Wales · Girls

Anu appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 7 years beginning in 1996, and has registered 27 births with the name.

Anu across 2 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Anu's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#3795 (1996)	#2746 (2000)	#5785 (2016)	7 of 21	27 (1996–2016)	5 (2000)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#655 (2003)	#635 (2006)	#868 (2016)	5 of 14	18 (2003–2016)	5 (2012)

Anu by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Anu in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	3	1 of 10	3
2000sbusiest	21	5 of 10	4
2010s	3	1 of 10	3

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2000s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 4 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Anu appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 2 regions, from 1996 to 2016. Highest recorded position: #635 in Republic of Ireland in 2006.

Anu's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2016	England and Wales	female	#5785	3	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	male	#4810	3	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#3860	5	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#5201	3	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#3970	4	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#3262	4	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#2746	5	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#3795	3	High	Verified
2016	Republic of Ireland	female	#868	3	High	Verified
2013	Republic of Ireland	female	#894	3	High	Verified
2012	Republic of Ireland	female	#677	5	High	Verified
2006	Republic of Ireland	female	#635	4	High	Verified
2003	Republic of Ireland	female	#655	3	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 2 registrars between 1996 and 2016, ranked in 11 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #635, first reached in 2006.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 5 births, registered in England and Wales in 2000.

Its record falls into 6 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 3 years.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2003, and 7 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

3decades with a ranked yearRecorded in 3 decades →
4 yearslongest unbroken run of ranked years
6separate stretches the record falls into6 to 9 separate stretches →
3 yearslongest absence inside the recorded period2 to 3 years missing →
#868position in 2016, its most recent recorded year
7 yearsyears between the first and last registrar to record itAcross 6 to 10 years →
5births registered in its largest year, 2000Under 25 births →

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Antonio · #85, 72y
Antony · #56, 46y
Anum · #789, 29y
Anuoluwa · #3015, 12y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 2 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Valerija · #635, 13y
Masa · #634, 12y
Benjamim · #637, 10y
Arabella-Rose · #638, 11y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Alliyah · #635, 24y
Aniela · #635, 26y
Ifeoma · #635, 22y
Ketsia · #635, 17y

Anu was ranked #635 in Republic of Ireland · Girls in 2006. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Anu and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Anu without appearing here.

Anu moved ahead of

Therese Compare
In 2007 they stood at #5201 and #2895 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2008 that had become #3860 and #5545.
Helene Compare
In 2007 they stood at #5201 and #5201 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2008 that had become #3860 and #4524.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 2 regions, from 1996 to 2016. Highest recorded position: #635 in Republic of Ireland in 2006. Source data last verified 2026-07-25.

Anu

Anu at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Anu across 2 official records

Anu by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Anu appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Anu

Anu and the names beside it

Anu moved ahead of

Anu at a glance

Anu across 2 official records

Anu by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Anu appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Anu

Anu and the names beside it

Anu moved ahead of