What does the surname "Anen" mean?

Question

And is it German or Irish, or something else?

Answer 1

Anen means noob. So essentially, anen = noob.

It's Maltese.

Answer 2

It's possibly a version of Hanen, with a 'dropped' H. ( this, in my opinion is the most plausible )

Hanen  

Last name origins & meanings:

Scottish: unexplained. Possibly a variant of Irish Hannan.

German: from Middle High German: probably from a house name, zem hanen ‘at the sign of the rooster’ (see Hahn).

Hahn  

First name origin & meaning:

German: Rooster

Last name origins & meanings:

German: from Middle High German hane ‘rooster’, hence a nickname for a conceited or sexually active man. In some instances it may have been a habitational name from a house bearing the sign of a rooster.

German: patronymic from a reduced form of the personal name Johannes (see John). This surname is also found in Denmark and Sweden.

Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Hahn ‘rooster’, one of the many Ashkenazic surnames based on vocabulary words denoting birds or animals.

And to complicate things even more, here is the Irish Hannan

Hannan    

Last name origins & meanings:

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAnnáin ‘descendant of Annán’, a contracted form of Annach, a byname of uncertain meaning.

Muslim: from the Arabic personal name Hannān ‘compassionate’, ‘merciful’.

Answer 3

If I may correct some misconceptions-

Yes.. some names ARE "made up".  Maybe a variation would be more correct.  Example from my own research.. the name Dauphinais is an original (and French Canadian).  After immigration, the name was altered/ adapted to Dolphay.  Thus, Dolphay HAS no meaning at all, and the "origin" is one man, who died in Minnesota.

Many names, especially in the US, are variations of another original name. It often is assumed "the name got changed at Ellis Island", except many names got 'changed' long before Ellis Island existed.

2nd.. names (of themselves) don't always have any one nationality. PERSONS have origins that can be proven. In a quick look for the Anen name in 1930 census records, there are several persons with the name.. I see persons showing their place of birth as Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg. There might be more, I simply did a fast scan.

So, if there are 10 persons with the name Anen.. each will have different ancestry or heritage, that DEPENDS on who their actual family member was.  Another misconception is that persons who have the same name, are all related, if you go back far enough.  No, that is not true.

After you find your ancestor's place of origin, then you can try to determine if the name is original, and perhaps has a meaning from that language.

As offered above.. please.. ask among your family if they know the name and location of an actual family member, and we will be happy to find what records there are.

Answer 4

It could be an altered spelling of some more common surname... for instance, Hannan.  Or it could be a shortened version; your ancestor could've dropped part of the original name (like Annensky or McAnnen).

The only way to know for sure is to trace your Anen line back to the immigrant ancestor, and see where he came from.  If you know the name of an Anen ancestor who was here by 1930, and if you'll list his name, I'm sure someone will be happy to search the census and see what they can find.