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The first name 
Elena

Elena is a female first name. In very rare cases it is also used for boys.

The name Elena is very popular!

The first name Elena is one of the top 100 most popular girls names in the US – currently at #75 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Elena, accounting for approximately 0.20 % of all newborn girls. In the entire USA, approximately 88,915 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Elena. That is 0.03 % of all living Americans.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Elena

What does the name 
Elena mean?

The first name Elena is derived from the first name Helene, a french variant of the name Helen.

Did you know... that the common meaning 'sunshine' for Helen is probtably a mistranslation? The true meaning of the name Elena is currently unknown.

Princesses and mysterious people are named Elena.

A mysterious best-selling author

Elena Ferrante
Elena Ferrante is the pen name of an Italian author known for her best-selling novels. It is believed that Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym and the author's true identity remains unknown. She has deliberately chosen to remain anonymous, separating her personal life from her writing. One of Elena Ferrante's most famous book series is the 'Neapolitan Saga'. Her works have been honored with numerous international prizes and awards and have gained a large following among readers and critics worldwide. However, the identity of Elena Ferrante remains a mystery, adding to the fascination and mystery that surrounds the author and her works.

A fictional princess

Elena of Avalor
Elena of Avalor is a fictional princess and the main character of the Disney Channel animated series of the same name. The series premiered in 2016 and is part of the Disney Universe. She is portrayed as a brave and smart young woman who lives in a magical kingdom called Avalor. She is a Latin princess and is often described as kind, caring and determined. Elena has strong ties to her family and community and is proud of her cultural roots. Her character is designed to be an inspirational heroine for young girls, conveying positive messages of bravery, leadership and cultural pride. The series also emphasizes the importance of family, friendship and cooperation.

A fictional character

Elena Gilbert
Elena Gilbert is a fictional character from the popular book series 'The Vampire Diaries' by American author L.J. Smith. She is also the main character of the television series of the same name, 'The Vampire Diaries', which is based on the books. In the story, Elena Gilbert is a young woman living in the fictional town of Mystic Falls. She is an attractive high school student and is often seen as popular and outgoing. However, Elena is also known for her sadness and melancholy, as her parents were killed in a car accident. She has a younger sister, Margaret 'Maggie' Gilbert. Elena is attracted to two vampire brothers, Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore, who are new to Mystic Falls.

A queen

Elena of Montenegro (1873 - 1952)
Elena of Montenegro was born Jelena Petrović-Njegoš and was the daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro and Queen Milena. In 1896, Elena married Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy. As Queen of Italy, Elena played an important role in Italian society and was involved in charitable causes, especially education and health. She was known for her beauty, elegance and strength in difficult times. During the First World War, Elena of Montenegro supported the Italian war effort and provided humanitarian aid to wounded soldiers. After the war and the fall of the Italian monarchy in 1946, she became Queen Mother of Italy after her son Umberto II served as king for a short time.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Elena, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Elena? Are you also called Elena? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

Elena is a town...

in central Bulgaria in Veliko Tarnovo Province, the town is situated on the skirts of the forested Elena Balkan Range, in the valley of the Elena River.

A village

In the south of Bulgaria lies the province of Haskovo with the municipality of Haskovo and a village called Elena.

A mountain

Elena Peak is a 2,296-foot mountain on Livingston Island. It is named after the town of Elena in Bulgaria.

Elena -
from zero to hero

#47 - this is the highest rank Elena has ever achieved. Not many names manage to reach such a high popularity in even one of the 140+ years of recording. The last time Elena reached this top spot was in 2022 when 4,274 newborn girls were given this name. But as our statistics show, Elena hasn't always been a popular name: in some years of record, most recently in the year 1883, not a single newborn or less than 5 were named Elena (a name is only included in the official statistics if it has been given at least 5 times in a year). Nevertheless, the name Elena has accompanied people in this country for a long time. It turns out that this name fits very well into our time today. From zero to hero - even though it took a while for Elena to really catch on, it has become a very popular name.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Elena was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Elena -
very special and well known across the entire USA

Everyone knows her, everyone loves her and still she’s different from the mainstream: Elena occurs in every single state of the U.S. This may sound quite unspectacular at first, but in fact, of the more than 50,000 different female first names that occur in the USA, just 537 are recorded in each individual state, so the name Elena is definitely something very special. However, at the same time, since the name does not appear in the top 100 most common first names in any single state, Elena is not one of those names that one encounters in every neighbourhood, but stands out from the crowd, is noticeable and special without being strange or unknown. From Alaska to Florida, a total of 88,910 women and girls of all generations bear the name Elena – that is one in 1,734. However, there are considerable regional differences – the name is far more popular than average in New Mexico, where one in 589 women and girls is called Elena, while it is particularly rare in Vermont, where you have to ask an average of 14,520 women for their name to get Elena as an answer once.

Elena has 5 letters 
and begins with an E

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter E is neither particularly common nor particularly rare as a first letter for girls' names: 3.9% of all common girls' names in the US begin with this letter. The most common first letters of girls' names, by the way, are A, S and M, while U, X and Q are the least common initials of girls' names.

With five letters, the name Elena is comparatively short. In fact, 17.0% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly five letters. Only 7% of all first names are even shorter, while 75% have more than five letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

That means that with 3.9%, E as the first letter in girls' names is almost as common as all 26 letters on average - and of all the girls' names that start with an E, Elizabeth is the most common.

Other names with 
E, l, e, n and a

If you take all the letters in the name Elena – E, l, e, n and a – and put them together again, you can form other names, such as Elean or others.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Elena

If your name is Elena and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Elena

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Elena, you can simply say:

Elephant

Lion

Elephant

Nut

Apple

This is how the name Elena is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Elena in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Elena

Elena

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Elena

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Elena is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

E
L
E
N
A

Have you ever waved the name Elena

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

E
L
E
N
A

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Elena sounds like this: