baby name AnastasiaThe baby name Anastasia brings to mind a doomed Russian princess and the animated movie that gave her a happy ending.

Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

RESURRECTION

The baby name Anastasia comes from the Greek anastasis – resurrection. Pronounce it with four syllables, or maybe even five. Like Isabella and Olivia, it’s a dramatic, elaborate choice.

A handful of early saints answered to the name, as well as the masculine form – Anastasius.

The earliest saint by the name died during the Diocletian persecutions in the 300s.

We find more early uses of the name in the east, though not exclusively so:

  • A second Saint Anastasia was a sixth century lady-in-waiting to the Byzantine Empress Theodora.
  • Aelia Anastasia was the wife of sixth century Roman Emperor Tiberius II Constantine.
  • The eleventh century Anastasia of Kiev became Queen of Hungary.
  • Christine de Pisan mentions an illuminator of manuscripts working in Paris circa 1400 called Anastasia.
  • Sixteenth century Anastasia was wife of Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
  • King Nikola I of Montenegro used the name for his daughter, born in 1868.
  • Anastasia Arapova married Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the military commander and Marshal of Finland. She gave the French version of her name, Anastasie, to their daughter.
  • Countess Anastasia Mikhailovna de Torby was a Romanov cousin known as Zia.

A handful of Russian royals make that list, and the most famous bearer also comes from St. Petersburg.

THE GRAND DUCHESS ANASTASIA

Born in 1901, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, would live a short and tragic life.

In the early twentieth century, only a boy could inherit the throne. And so a fourth daughter – younger sister to Olga, Tatiana, and Maria – was considered a disappointment. Still, there’s no evidence her childhood was anything but happy. And, of course, quite privileged.

That changed after the birth of her younger brother, the long-awaited heir to the Romanov throne. You probably know the story: Alexei inherited hemophilia, making even the smallest of childhood scrapes and tumbles potentially deadly. His distraught mother sound the intervention of Rasputin, a self-proclaimed healer.

It became a scandal – the royal family so entangled with an outsider of dubious reputation. Historians suggest it contributed to the downfall of the Romanovs, making them unpopular.

Anastasia was still a child when the Russian Revolution began in 1917. Her father abdicated later that year, and the family was placed under house arrest in Siberia.

ANNA ANDERSON

We now know that the family – including Anastasia – met their deaths in July of 1918 at the hands of Bolsheviks. She was just 17 years old.

But we know that based on DNA evidence from 2007. For decades, the fate of the Romanovs wasn’t crystal clear.

In the 1920s, Anna Anderson surfaced, claiming that she’d survived the massacre with the help of a sympathetic guard.

The story captivated the world. How could it not? We all wanted to believe that the teenaged princess survived the massacre. The meaning of the late royal’s name – resurrection – added to the appeal of the tale.

SILVER SCREEN

In 1956, Ingrid Bergman played Anna Anderson in a movie called Anastasia. It’s presented as a scam, a swindle designed to access cash held in reserve for the family – or is it? Just enough ambiguity hints at how very much we all want the story to be true. Bergman won an Oscar for the role.

Other imposters surfaced, but for decades all we had was a lingering sense that maybe – just maybe – Anastasia had lived.

By 1984, Anna Anderson passed away and a few years later, DNA evidence confirmed that she was not a Romanov after all.

PUTTING IT TO MUSIC

By 1997, the Soviet Union had fallen and the Cold War between the US and Russia effectively ended.

With time passing, the story of Anastasia began to feel more like a fairytale than a real-life tragedy.

Time for a second movie titled Anastasia.

This time, it’s animated. And musical!

Once again, a swindle is planned by two conmen. They hope to find an Anastasia look-alike to claim her fortune. Instead, they find the real-life Anastasia, who has spent a few years in an orphanage as Anya. She suffered a fall during her dramatic escape from the palace, and doesn’t remember a thing.

There’s a love story, a talking bat, and a happy ending – though not one that sees the princess returning to rule Russia.

It did put the baby name Anastasia on the radar of a generation of future parents.

BY THE NUMBERS

The baby name Anastasia was used in small numbers from 1880 into the 1930s in the US. There’s a modest increase in 1917/18, perhaps reflecting newspaper headlines. But it’s so small that it’s hard to say.

It fell out of use in the 1930s.

Ingrid Bergman’s star turn gave the baby name Anastasia a lift in the late 1950s.

By 1963, the name returned to the US Top 1000 and hasn’t left since.

RISE and FALL

The baby name Anastasia spiked in use in 1987, thanks to a made-for-TV movie based on Anna Anderson’s story, leaping from #495 to #269.

Then came the musical. In 1996, the name ranked #327. By 1998, it reached #265.

It’s as if parents needed to be frequently reminded that the baby name Anastasia was out there.

STACY and STACEY

Another factor: in the 1970s and 80s, parents embraced the name Stacy or Stacey. It leapt up the charts with Tracy and Tracey.

It’s an obvious nickname for the baby name Anastasia.

Not in Russia, of course, where Nastia and Nastenka are the common diminutives.

But in the US? Doubtless some of the girls along the way were named Anastasia to get to Stacy.

BEYOND RUSSIA

In 1950, Disney dubbed one of Cinderella’s stepsisters Anastasia.

Lois Lowry’s Anastasia Krupnik series of young adult novels debuted in 1979.

On the map, there’s Anastasia Island, off the Atlantic coast of Florida, and St. Anastasia Island on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

Olympic gymnast Anastasia “Nastia” Liukin won gold in 2008 gold.

TOP 200

While Krupnik and Liukin might’ve influenced some parents, chances are that the 1997 musical sealed the appeal of Anastasia for an entire generation. The baby name Anastasia entered the US Top 200 in 2016, and ranks #158 as of 2020.

That timing tracks with the movie’s peak popularity – a generation of 90s babies grew up and named their daughter for the happy-ending version of the tragic tale.

But why not? The name offers a dramatic but approachable sound. The meaning is powerful. And the name hits the familiar-not-common sweet spot, too.

There are plenty of reasons to consider the baby name Anastasia for a daughter.

What do you think of Anastasia?

First published on April 4, 2009, this post was revised substantially and republished on June 29, 2021.

baby name Anastasia

About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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What do you think?

18 Comments

  1. Exactly. That’s my second name. Didn’t like it growing up cos people were pronouncing it wrong or shortening it to Anna which I hate. But now I love it.

  2. Anastasia is my first name and I love both my name and its meaning! I love both pronunciations (American Ana-stay-jia and European Ahna-stah-see-yah). Though here in Europe the second is how it’s usually pronounced. It means “resurrection – the one who will rise again”. Everyone tells me my name is adorable when they hear it. The only two things I dislike is that many people have trouble spelling it correctly (I’ve heard at least four versions) and that because of it’s length people will always try to shorten it when I like it just as it is. Nicknames people usually use for me are Annie, Ana, Stasia, Tasia, Nastia.

  3. Anastasia is my name and I love it! Even though it is way overused in Eastern Europe, so where I am from it is in no way rare, but I still love it.

  4. I just now came across this post and I find it fascinating that it was written within a few days of my own daughter’s birth — we used Anastasia as the middle to a sweet one-syllable first. I wanted Anastasia to be pronounced in the 5-syllable style, but you would be amazed at all the dumbfounded looks we get over that so I gave up and say it the more familiar 4-syllable way. Nice name feature; I enjoyed the read.

  5. I find myself loving the name Anastasia lately. I do wonder if it would sound strange with my other favorite girls names, Cordelia and Leonora. Hm I suppose its unlikely I’d have three daughters anyway but I do love this name.

  6. my best friend is named Tasia…..just Tasia. she loves the movie Anastasia, though. her mom named her that after hearing someone use it. a bit random, but its pretty!