Combination of Lou (from Louise, 'famous warrior') and Anna ('grace').
Louanna is a graceful compound name fusing two venerable traditions: Lou, the Germanic root meaning 'famous in battle' that underlies Louis, Louise, and their many variants, and Anna, the Latinized form of the Hebrew Hannah, meaning 'grace' or 'favor.' The pairing is anything but arbitrary — it produces a name meaning something close to 'renowned grace,' a combination that parents across cultures have found instinctively appealing. Compound names of this type were especially fashionable in the American South and Midwest during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when names like Luella, Louisa, and Anna were all individually popular.
The name appears occasionally in American records from the 1880s through the 1940s, never achieving mass popularity but maintaining a steady quiet presence. It shares territory with cousins like Luanne, Luanna, and LuAnn, each a slightly different crystallization of the same blended impulse. Country music gave Luanne and LuAnn considerable exposure in the mid-twentieth century, and the broader family carries a warm, down-home Americana resonance.
Louanna's particular spelling adds a touch of Old World formality — the double 'n' and the open 'a' ending give it a slightly more Continental feel than the more common Luanne. Today it reads as a genuinely rare vintage find, carrying the warmth of Anna, the strength of Lou, and the handmade quality of a name assembled by someone who wanted something uniquely their own.