A little girl in the Cub’s pre-K is named Anika. My first thought was of little Anikin Skywalker. Turns out that she has more in common than the name; there’s a clear personality relationship, if you get my drift.
At any rate, is “Anika” becoming a common name for little [del]anti-social brats[/del] girls? Don’t others see a resemblance in names there?
Anika is a fairly common European variant of Anna. It’s been around for ages. The suffix “-ka” is a common form of a diminutive version of the name, the way “-ie” is in English. Here’s a page with the different versions:
Annika and Anika had a spike in popularity in the early 2000s, but that surge has faded and they were never very common. This comes from the Baby Name Voyager site: around 2004 there were about 240 Annikas out of every million babies in the U.S.
I know two and they were born in 1998 and 2001.
Annika’s parents are from Germany (mom) and Poland (dad).
Anika’s parents are of Indian descent.
Both are really lovely girls.
Annika is Pippi Longstocking’s friend in the book.
Around here it’s Anneka or Anneke but based on the same root and never has been very common among later generations. Too bad; it’s a pretty name.
I’ve known a couple of Annikas, both were Swedish. It was also on our shortlist for baby #2, although we ended up calling her Remy instead.
In Spain’s Ebro Valley and spelled with a c it’s a nickname for Ana. St. Anne being the patron saint of several towns in the area, it’s quite common although usually the kind of nick that’s “very close family only”.
It’s been common in the UK since Anneka"Rear of the Year 1986" Rice ran around our TV screens in a tight jumpsuit.
Not so common nowadays. I’d guess it peaked some time in the 1930s/1940s.
Annika Sorenstam influenced, maybe?
There was an Anika in my class when I was in grade school and I was born in 1967. I hope it’s becoming more popular, I think it’s a very pretty name.
That’s my guess. Annika Sorenstam starts showing up a lot in Google News Archives in 1995, and that’s the same year that Annika debuted in the top 1000 Social Security names.
I know a couple. One is probably 10-11 years old. The other was born on Monday.
Popularity chart for Annika (peaking at 327th most common girl name in the US in 2005) is here.
Popularity chart for Anika (peaking at 477th most common girl name in 2004) is here. Interestingly, this spelling also charted in the 1970’s, although way down on the list (#985).
Just to point out that it’s Anakin Skywalker, not Anikin. They’re not related.
I have a 6 year old niece in Vancouver named Annika.
She’s the only one I’ve run across though.
I know two little girls 'round these parts named Annika. I was about to say that it’s reasonably popular around here, but then realized I couldn’t think of anyone else besides those two that have that name. I think it’s the Scandinavian influence.
I don’t know any Anikas, but I do know a good number of Anikos (it’s a popular Hungarian name. I swear, I feel like there are about 30 popular first names in Hungary, and 30 popular surnames, and everybody I know is some combination of the two.)
What ever happened to that guy in NJ who tried to name his baby Hitler or something like that?