Elena

femaleGreek

Often glossed as 'torch' or 'bright, shining light', though this is genuinely contested.

Origin: Greek — A form of Helen ('Helene').

Official popularity data is available for 6 regions, from 1947 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #56 in New South Wales, Australia in 2019. See regions.

Elena: Recorded since 1947, it reached #56 in 2019, and it was still inside the top 100 in 2025.

6registrars recorded it
189times a registrar ranked it
79years from first to last
#56highest recorded position
25groupings it qualifies for

What stands out in Elena's record

Moved 161 places between two consecutive years — its largest recorded change. Names by largest single-year move

EL-uh-nuh/ˈɛlənə/ (also /eɪˈleɪnə/)

Compare Elena Run Name Checker on Elena

Data Confidence

Evidence: ModerateCompleteness: CompleteEditorial review: 2026-06-15

Confidence in the evidencebehind this name's data — never a rating of the name itself, and never affected by how well it matches your preferences. How this is assessed

Because: backed by officially or academically authoritative sources, sources disagree on part of this name's record, recently verified, most expected sections are populated, popularity data covers multiple regions.

Source authority

Averaged from the real per-claim source-authority assessments already computed for this name's meaning/origin/pronunciation/popularity evidence.

Independent corroboration

Averaged from the real per-claim supporting-source counts already computed for this name's evidence.

See full evidence assessment (8 dimensions, 1 not yet tracked)

Source agreement

At least one meaning/origin entry records that sources disagree — calculated from that disagreement flag, not an editorial guess.

Recency

Calculated from how long ago this record was last verified (2026-06-15), against a 270-day staleness threshold.

Geographic relevance

Calculated from the number of geographies with official popularity data (6) — broader official coverage means the evidence base is relevant to more of where the name is actually used.

Completeness

Calculated from how many of the expected data sections (variants, similar names, popularity, notable usage, IPA pronunciation) are actually populated for this name.

Direct observation vs. inference

Averaged from the real per-claim direct-observation-vs-inference ratios already computed for this name's evidence.

Identity & variant resolution quality

Cross-source identity and variant resolution requires HEKNO Knowledge, which isn't connected yet.

Name Characteristics

How these are calculated

Descriptive attributes of the name itself — not a confidence measurement, and not an overall quality score. Namewise doesn't approve or disapprove of names.

Pronunciation clarity

Editorial judgement of how consistently this name is pronounced correctly on first read, mapped from an easy/moderate/variable rating to a number. Describes the name — not a measure of evidence confidence.

Spelling simplicity

Calculated directly from the name's spelling: shorter names with fewer irregular letter clusters score higher. A disclosed formula, not an editorial opinion — and not a confidence measurement.

Recorded regional spread

Derived from how many geographies' official statistics record this name. It measures where the name is registered, not how well-known it feels to people living there.

International spread

Derived from the same official statistical coverage, scaled to reflect how widely the name crosses national datasets. Not a measure of how easily it is understood in another language.

Trend stability

Derived from the name's traditional/modern classification and its current popularity trend direction.

Overview

Origin: Greek
Meaning: Often glossed as 'torch' or 'bright, shining light', though this is genuinely contested.
Pronunciation: EL-uh-nuh
Syllables: 3
Common nicknames: Lena
Classification: Traditional & modern
Gender usage: female
Language family: Greek

Popularity

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2025

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#202
1997	#202
1998	#203
1999	#206
2000	#176
2001	#203
2002	#182
2003	#203
2004	#214
2005	#210
2006	#216
2007	#235
2008	#206
2009	#239
2010	#192
2011	#171
2012	#185
2013	#159
2014	#155
2015	#146
2016	#151
2017	#135
2018	#132
2019	#134
2020	#140
2021	#152
2022	#138
2023	#167
2024	#146
2025	#161

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

RisingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in Norway in 77 of the 79 years from 1947 to 2025.

In 2025: #63 among girls in New South Wales, Australia, #99 among girls in Norway, #161 among girls in England and Wales, #189 among girls in Republic of Ireland.

Official data from 6 national registrars across 6 regions, 1947–2025 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1947
First recorded at #370 among girls in Norway in 1947 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
Norway · Girls
Most recent2025
Most recently recorded at #161 among girls in England and Wales, in 2025.
England and Wales · Girls

Elena appears in 5 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is Norway · Girls, which has ranked it in 77 years beginning in 1947, and has registered 2,779 births with the name.

Elena across 5 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Elena's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
Norway · Girls	#370 (1947)	#82 (2018)	#99 (2025)	77 of 79	2,779 (1947–2025)	76 (2018)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#315 (1967)	#114 (2024)	#189 (2025)	49 of 59	910 (1967–2025)	51 (2014)
England and Wales · Girls	#202 (1996)	#132 (2018)	#161 (2025)	30 of 30	8,541 (1996–2025)	394 (2017)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#351 (1998)	#122 (2017)	#192 (2024)	23 of 27	212 (1998–2024)	19 (2017)
New South Wales, Australia · Girls	#81 (2017)	#56 (2019)	#63 (2025)	9 of 9	900 (2017–2025)	119 (2021)

Elena by decade in Norway · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Elena in Norway · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1940s	9	2 of 10	5
1950s	102	9 of 10	11
1960s	368	10 of 10	37
1970s	417	10 of 10	42
1980s	411	10 of 10	41
1990s	281	10 of 10	28
2000s	338	10 of 10	34
2010sbusiest	572	10 of 10	57
2020s	281	6 of 10	47

Across Norway · Girls, the 2010s were its busiest decade, averaging 57 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 2018 and 2019, when recorded births fell by 25, from 76 to 51.

See the names Norwayhas recorded the most births with →

Elena appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

What the record shows

Recorded by 6 registrars between 1947 and 2025, ranked in 77 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #56, first reached in 2019.

It held a top-100 place in 10 years, 9 of them consecutive.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 394 births, registered in England and Wales in 2017.

Its record falls into 3 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 1 year.

A second registrar first ranked it in 1967, and 77 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Elena was ranked #56 in New South Wales, Australia · Girls in 2019. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Elektra · #1296, 23y
Elen · #287, 66y
Eleni · #596, 30y
Elenor · #497, 25y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 6 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Kurt · #56, 81y
Ali · #57, 80y
Iris · #57, 81y
Gordon · #51, 74y

Also first recorded in the 1940s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1940 and 1949.

Ina · #56, 76y
Kurt · #56, 81y
Trygve · #56, 81y
Ali · #57, 80y

Elena and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,577 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Elena without appearing here.

Elena moved ahead of

Ida
In 2007 they stood at #503 and #406 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 2008 that had become #206 and #546.
Deborah
In 2011 they stood at #419 and #419 in Northern Ireland · Girls; by 2012 that had become #146 and #451.
May
In 2012 they stood at #419 and #419 in Northern Ireland · Girls; by 2013 that had become #150 and #440.
Melanie
In 2012 they stood at #332 and #332 in Northern Ireland · Girls; by 2013 that had become #150 and #440.

Moved ahead of Elena

Maisie
In 2006 they stood at #332 and #384 in Northern Ireland · Girls; by 2007 that had become #351 and #203.
Isabelle
In 1990 they stood at #359 and #381 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 1991 that had become #515 and #393.
Mathilde
In 1989 they stood at #157 and #193 in Norway · Girls; by 1990 that had become #242 and #122.
Amanda
In 1989 they stood at #157 and #165 in Norway · Girls; by 1990 that had become #242 and #124.

Moved the opposite way to Elena

Anita
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 while Anita went from #136 to #459.
Anne
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 while Anne went from #1 to #159.
Åse
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 while Åse went from #23 to #93.
Aud
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 while Aud went from #13 to #427.

Moved the same way as Elena

Ada
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 and Ada from #182 to #18.
Anna
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 and Anna from #46 to #23.
Elise
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 and Elise from #245 to #63.
Ellinor
Between 1947 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Elena went from #370 to #99 and Ellinor from #105 to #7.

Meaning & Origin

Often glossed as 'torch' or 'bright, shining light', though this is genuinely contested.

Classical scholars have proposed several roots for Helen/Elena, including Greek 'selene' (moon) and 'helane' (torch); some argue the name predates Greek entirely and its true root is unknown.

VerifiedSource: Namewise editorial team, Behind the Name.Confidence: medium.Sources differ: Sources differ significantly on this one; no single etymology commands consensus among classicists.

Greek

A form of Helen ('Helene').

VerifiedSource: Namewise editorial team, Behind the Name.Confidence: medium.

Other names with a researched meaning and origin →

Where Elena is officially recorded

6 official registrars have recorded Elena, between 1947 and 2025, in 77 of those 79 years. Each registrar publishes for its own population on its own methodology, so the positions below are each one country's own ranking and are not comparable with one another.

Registrar	Recorded	Years	Its own highest position
Norway	1947–2025	77	#82 in 2018
Republic of Ireland	1967–2025	49	#114 in 2024
England and Wales	1996–2025	30	#132 in 2018
Northern Ireland	1998–2024	23	#122 in 2017
New South Wales, Australia	2017–2025	9	#56 in 2019
Scotland	2024	1	#171 in 2024

Variants

Helena · regional
Elena · regional
Lena · nickname

Similar Names

See full comparison →

Aurelia7% similar

Similar three-syllable classic European sound.

Similarity is a demonstration score — see methodology.

Spelling

Spelling simplicity

Calculated directly from the name's spelling — see Name Characteristics above.

No commonly used alternate spellings recorded.

Pronunciation

EL-uh-nuh/ˈɛlənə/ (also /eɪˈleɪnə/)

Syllables: 3
Ease: easy

Demonstration dataSource: Namewise editorial team.Confidence: low.

Where Elena Is Recorded

National statistical agencies have recorded Elena in these places. This shows where the name is used — not where it comes from, and not that it carries particular cultural significance there.

New South Wales, AustraliaEngland and WalesNorthern IrelandScotlandRepublic of IrelandNorway

Notable Usage

No safely-sourced notable usage recorded for this name yet.

Sibling & Surname Compatibility

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Elena

Elena at a glance

What stands out in Elena's record

Overview

Popularity

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Elena across 5 official records

Elena by decade in Norway · Girls

Elena appears in

What the record shows

Names published alongside Elena

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1940s

Elena and the names beside it

Elena moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Elena

Moved the opposite way to Elena

Moved the same way as Elena

Meaning & Origin

Where Elena is officially recorded

Variants

Similar Names

Spelling

Pronunciation

Where Elena Is Recorded

Notable Usage

Sibling & Surname Compatibility

Elena at a glance

What stands out in Elena's record

Elena across 5 official records

Elena by decade in Norway · Girls

Elena appears in

What the record shows

Names published alongside Elena

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1940s

Elena and the names beside it

Elena moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Elena

Moved the opposite way to Elena

Moved the same way as Elena