Elhannan as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Elhannan

What is the meaning of the name Elhannan ?

The baby name Elhannan is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced Hebrew: /ɛl.haˈnan/; Anglicized: el-HAN-ən.

Elhannan is Hebrew in Origin.

Elhannan is a Hebrew masculine given name formed from El, "God," and chanan, "to show favor," yielding the meaning "God has been gracious." The underlying root h-n-n also appears in Hanan and Hannah, and theologically parallels Yohanan/John, "Yahweh is gracious." Spellings reflect transliteration choices across communities: Elhanan and Elchanan are standard; Elhannan and Elkhanan also occur.

Attested in the Hebrew Bible, Elhannan names two figures: a warrior among King David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23:24; 1 Chronicles 11:26) and, in a well-known textual crux, the slayer of either Goliath or Goliath's brother (2 Samuel 21:19; 1 Chronicles 20:5). The name survived in medieval and early modern Jewish usage and appears sporadically in English, including among Puritans and in America (e.g., preacher Elhanan Winchester). It remains familiar in Jewish and modern Israeli contexts; variants yield nicknames like Hanan or Chanan.

⚙ Elhannan is an extremely rare name. Across our dataset of national birth registries and international name records, Elhannan appears only 2 times in total — found in 2 countries. If you're considering it, you'd be giving your child a name almost nobody else has.