Anastasia - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 4 syll. a-nas-ta-sia, an-astas-ia ] The girl name Anastasia is pronounced aeNahSTEYZHah ^KEY. Anastasia's language of origin is Old Greek. It is predominantly used in English, German, Greek, and Russian. The Greek anastasis ('resurrection') is itself from ana ('up') and stasis ('standing, standstill'). The name was borne by the venerated 4th-century martyr, Saint Anastasia, who was martyred at Sirmium in Dalmatia. It was popular with early Christians due to the association of its meaning with the start of a new life for a child. The name has been used by English speakers since the 12th century, usually in the forms Anstace or Anstice. It was borne by the first tsarina Anastasia (-1560), the wife of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It later picked up strong Russian associations through Princess Anastasia (1901-1918), the youngest daughter of the last tsar of Russia Nicholas II. Many believe she survived the 1918 massacre of her family after a woman claimed to be her in 1920, and she subsequently became the subject of a film in 1956. Anastasia is the feminine equivalent of the German Anastasius.

The name Anastasia is widely used; it has 51 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of the name include Anastace, Anastice, Anstice (also used in Scottish), Nessa (also used in Irish, Russian, Latvian, and Lithuanian), Staci, and Stacie. Other English forms include the short form Stacia, the pet forms Anna (also used in Czech, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Slavic, and Spanish), Stacey, Stacy, Stash, Stasha, Stasia, and Staz, and the spelling variant Anastacia.

Forms of Anastasia used in foreign languages include the French and German Anastasie, the Russian, Slavic, and Ukrainian Anastasiya, the Latinized Anastassia, the Czech Anastazia, the Polish Anastazja, the Slavic Anastázia, the Czech Anastázie, the Hungarian Anasztaszia, the Hungarian Anasztázia, the Czech Nast'a, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Nastacia, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Nastasha, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Nastasya, the Czech Nastenka, the Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian Nastka, the Polish Nastusia, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Nastusya, the Czech Stasa, the Czech Staska, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Stasya, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Tasenka, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Taska, and the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Tasya. Specific foreign forms include the short forms Asja (Russian), Nastasia (Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian), Nastasja (German and Russian), Nastassja (German and Russian), Natasa (Greek), and Tasia (Greek and Spanish), the pet forms Anya (Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian), Asya (Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian), Nastassia (Polish), Nastya (Russian), Tasa (Greek), and Tasoula (Greek), and the spelling variant Anastatia (Greek).

Anastasia is a rather popular baby girl name. The name increased in popularity from the 1960s up to the 1990s. At the modest peak of its usage in 1998, 0.061% of baby girls were named Anastasia. It was #265 in rank then. The baby name has experienced a drop in popularity since then. In 2008, it ranked at #360 with a usage of 0.044%, but it was nevertheless the 2nd most popular after the Czech, English, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Slavic, Spanish, Breton, Catalan, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, and French Anna, out of all girl names in its family. It was 8 times more commonly used than Anastasia in 2008.

Baby names that sound like Anastasia include the English Anastacia, the French and German Anastasie, the Greek Anastatia, the Polish Anastazja, the Czech Anastázie, the English Anastace, the Russian, Slavic, and Ukrainian Anastasiya, the Latinized Anastassia, the Czech Anastazia, the Slavic Anastázia, the English Anastice, the Hungarian Anasztaszia, the Hungarian Anasztázia, and the English and Scottish Anstice.

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