Gender: Girl
Meaning: Bright, shining light; torch
Origin: Spanish, Italian, and Romanian form of Helen — from Greek helene (torch, bright light)
Popularity: Ranked #45 in 2024 with 4,567 babies born.
History: Elena is the Romance-language form of Helen — the name of the most beautiful woman in Greek mythology, whose face launched a thousand ships and sparked the Trojan War. While Helen itself has faded from the top tier, Elena has thrived as its more melodic continental cousin. It has been popular across Spain, Italy, and Russia for centuries — Elena Ferrante, the celebrated Italian novelist, is a prominent modern bearer. In the United States it entered the top 50 in the 2010s, benefiting from the popularity of The Vampire Diaries character Elena Gilbert as well as its multicultural appeal.
Famous people named Elena: Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries), Elena Ferrante (author)
Name length: 5 letters
How common is Elena? About 1 in 729 babies born in 2024 were named Elena, or roughly 12.5 per day in the United States.
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