Elena

Where Elena comes from

Borrowed from Italian and Spanish Elena, cognate to English Helen.
— Wiktionary's entry for Elena
  • Italian
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #628 among girls — 8 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1919
    Elena Ceaușescu born
    Romanian politician
  3. 1943
    Elena Ferrante born
    pseudonymous Italian writer
  4. 2025
    Peak, #42
    4,836 babies named Elena — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Italian, Spanish, or Ancient Greek.
Namesakes
  • Elena Ceaușescu · Romanian politician, 1919–1989
  • Elena Ferrante · pseudonymous Italian writer, born 1943
  • Elena Cornaro Piscopia · Venetian philosopher, 1646–1684
  • Elena of Montenegro · queen consort of Italy (1900-1946) and Servant of God; mother of Umberto II of Italy, 1873–1952
  • Elena Kagan · Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2010, born 1960

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.