Compound of Anna (Hebrew for grace) and Mae (English springtime name from May).
Annamae is a compound name fusing two of the most beloved and deeply rooted names in Western tradition. Anna derives from the Hebrew Hannah — *Channah* — meaning "grace," "favor," or possibly "He has favored me," a name whose biblical weight is immense: Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel, a woman whose prayer for a child became a model of supplication and faith. Mae is most commonly understood as a variant of May, derived either from the Roman goddess Maia or simply from the month itself, with its associations of spring blossoming and new growth.
Some scholars also connect Mae to Mary, keeping it within the same ancient Semitic family as Anna. Compound names of this kind — fusing a saint's name with a gentler, floral or seasonal element — became especially popular in the American South during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where the tradition of double names (Mary Lou, Betty Jean, Ida Mae) reflected both family naming practices and a regional fondness for names that felt simultaneously dignified and intimate. Annamae in particular has a distinctly American folk quality: it sounds like someone's beloved great-grandmother, a woman who made biscuits from memory and knew the names of every plant in her garden.
In recent years, as naming culture has circled back toward vintage Americana, compound names like Annamae have attracted fresh attention. They offer the appeal of the antique without requiring parents to search outside the English-language tradition. Annamae in particular has a rhythmic pleasantness — four syllables that fall naturally in speech — and a warmth that feels hand-stitched rather than manufactured.