Biblical name, borne by the mother of the prophet Samuel (1
Samuel 1:2), Hebrew Hanna. It is derived from a Hebrew word
meaning ‘He (i.e. God) has favoured me (i.e. with a child)’. See
also Anne. This form of the name was taken up as a given name by
the Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries and remained popular
until the late 19th century. Thereafter it fell somewhat from
favour but has enjoyed a massive revival since the 1990s.
Probably an altered form of the English habitational name
Congreve (or the variants Congreave, Congrave) from Congreve in
Staffordshire or Congreave in Derbyshire. The first is recorded
in Domesday Book as Comegrave ‘grove (Old English grǣfe) in a
valley (Old English cumb)’.