Elena
Elena was given to 4,836 girls in 2025, #42 among girls’ names; 108,117 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 99,200 Americans named Elena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 6 and 30.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Elena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Elena mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Elena is “a female given name from Italian, Spanish, or Ancient Greek.”
Borrowed from Italian and Spanish Elena, cognate to English Helen.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Elena?
#42 among girls’ names, 2025
Elena rose from #106 in 2015 to #42 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 1.6 to 3.0 per 1,000.
4,842 babies in 2025, the peak
Elena peaked in 2025, when 4,842 babies were given it (4,836 girls, #42 among girls’ names). In 2024 it went to 4,577 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4,836 | #42 | 3.0 |
| 2024 | 4,577 | #46 | 2.8 |
| 2023 | 4,276 | #47 | 2.7 |
| 2022 | 4,290 | #49 | 2.6 |
| 2021 | 4,283 | #53 | 2.6 |
| 2020 | 3,930 | #55 | 2.4 |
| 2019 | 3,949 | #60 | 2.4 |
| 2018 | 3,776 | #67 | 2.2 |
| 2017 | 3,882 | #68 | 2.2 |
| 2016 | 3,190 | #94 | 1.8 |
Every recorded year (144)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,898 | #106 | 1.6 |
| 2014 | 2,616 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 2013 | 2,393 | #132 | 1.4 |
| 2012 | 2,275 | #139 | 1.3 |
| 2011 | 1,939 | #160 | 1.1 |
| 2010 | 1,886 | #164 | 1.1 |
| 2009 | 1,685 | #195 | 0.92 |
| 2008 | 1,627 | #209 | 0.86 |
| 2007 | 1,744 | #192 | 0.91 |
| 2006 | 1,875 | #187 | 1.0 |
| 2005 | 1,604 | #217 | 0.87 |
| 2004 | 1,584 | #215 | 0.86 |
| 2003 | 1,464 | #222 | 0.80 |
| 2002 | 1,358 | #233 | 0.76 |
| 2001 | 1,392 | #228 | 0.77 |
| 2000 | 1,366 | #234 | 0.75 |
| 1999 | 1,468 | #212 | 0.83 |
| 1998 | 1,138 | #273 | 0.64 |
| 1997 | 971 | #295 | 0.56 |
| 1996 | 947 | #301 | 0.54 |
| 1995 | 947 | #293 | 0.54 |
| 1994 | 921 | #297 | 0.52 |
| 1993 | 819 | #322 | 0.45 |
| 1992 | 791 | #337 | 0.43 |
| 1991 | 742 | #348 | 0.40 |
| 1990 | 756 | #352 | 0.40 |
| 1989 | 722 | #355 | 0.39 |
| 1988 | 611 | #394 | 0.34 |
| 1987 | 595 | #389 | 0.34 |
| 1986 | 638 | #369 | 0.37 |
| 1985 | 726 | #328 | 0.42 |
| 1984 | 542 | #398 | 0.32 |
| 1983 | 563 | #391 | 0.34 |
| 1982 | 616 | #373 | 0.36 |
| 1981 | 654 | #358 | 0.39 |
| 1980 | 633 | #370 | 0.38 |
| 1979 | 629 | #360 | 0.39 |
| 1978 | 574 | #371 | 0.37 |
| 1977 | 539 | #389 | 0.35 |
| 1976 | 530 | #387 | 0.36 |
| 1975 | 521 | #389 | 0.36 |
| 1974 | 546 | #382 | 0.37 |
| 1973 | 433 | #440 | 0.30 |
| 1972 | 485 | #406 | 0.32 |
| 1971 | 515 | #412 | 0.31 |
| 1970 | 509 | #433 | 0.29 |
| 1969 | 522 | #424 | 0.31 |
| 1968 | 475 | #436 | 0.29 |
| 1967 | 519 | #402 | 0.31 |
| 1966 | 529 | #399 | 0.31 |
| 1965 | 455 | #443 | 0.26 |
| 1964 | 507 | #435 | 0.27 |
| 1963 | 484 | #440 | 0.25 |
| 1962 | 422 | #469 | 0.21 |
| 1961 | 400 | #485 | 0.20 |
| 1960 | 431 | #469 | 0.21 |
| 1959 | 399 | #485 | 0.20 |
| 1958 | 440 | #455 | 0.22 |
| 1957 | 403 | #471 | 0.20 |
| 1956 | 349 | #501 | 0.17 |
| 1955 | 408 | #443 | 0.21 |
| 1954 | 338 | #482 | 0.17 |
| 1953 | 314 | #489 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 277 | #505 | 0.15 |
| 1951 | 267 | #503 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 259 | #500 | 0.15 |
| 1949 | 266 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1948 | 281 | #477 | 0.17 |
| 1947 | 256 | #517 | 0.14 |
| 1946 | 242 | #501 | 0.15 |
| 1945 | 216 | #494 | 0.17 |
| 1944 | 223 | #479 | 0.17 |
| 1943 | 225 | #497 | 0.16 |
| 1942 | 205 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1941 | 198 | #494 | 0.16 |
| 1940 | 135 | #599 | 0.12 |
| 1939 | 127 | #594 | 0.12 |
| 1938 | 153 | #551 | 0.14 |
| 1937 | 148 | #552 | 0.14 |
| 1936 | 150 | #531 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 130 | #561 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 164 | #503 | 0.16 |
| 1933 | 178 | #479 | 0.18 |
| 1932 | 193 | #475 | 0.18 |
| 1931 | 176 | #486 | 0.17 |
| 1930 | 219 | #456 | 0.19 |
| 1929 | 214 | #450 | 0.19 |
| 1928 | 250 | #429 | 0.22 |
| 1927 | 242 | #441 | 0.20 |
| 1926 | 232 | #443 | 0.20 |
| 1925 | 213 | #479 | 0.17 |
| 1924 | 213 | #477 | 0.17 |
| 1923 | 211 | #474 | 0.17 |
| 1922 | 205 | #481 | 0.17 |
| 1921 | 211 | #475 | 0.17 |
| 1920 | 178 | #530 | 0.15 |
| 1919 | 175 | #514 | 0.15 |
| 1918 | 188 | #495 | 0.16 |
| 1917 | 162 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1916 | 166 | #507 | 0.16 |
| 1915 | 164 | #482 | 0.17 |
| 1914 | 132 | #480 | 0.17 |
| 1913 | 116 | #465 | 0.19 |
| 1912 | 83 | #537 | 0.15 |
| 1911 | 84 | #445 | 0.20 |
| 1910 | 65 | #505 | 0.16 |
| 1909 | 50 | #535 | 0.14 |
| 1908 | 57 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1907 | 43 | #558 | 0.13 |
| 1906 | 40 | #556 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 34 | #604 | 0.12 |
| 1904 | 40 | #522 | 0.15 |
| 1903 | 23 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 37 | #528 | 0.14 |
| 1901 | 29 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1900 | 23 | #765 | 0.08 |
| 1899 | 23 | #648 | 0.10 |
| 1898 | 22 | #702 | 0.09 |
| 1897 | 18 | #746 | 0.08 |
| 1896 | 25 | #621 | 0.11 |
| 1895 | 25 | #612 | 0.11 |
| 1894 | 27 | #561 | 0.12 |
| 1893 | 17 | #726 | 0.08 |
| 1892 | 15 | #769 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 17 | #647 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 11 | #838 | 0.06 |
| 1889 | 11 | #813 | 0.06 |
| 1888 | 15 | #669 | 0.08 |
| 1887 | 7 | #971 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 11 | #706 | 0.08 |
| 1885 | 7 | #861 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 10 | #696 | 0.08 |
| 1881 | 5 | #859 | 0.05 |
| 1880 | 8 | #641 | 0.09 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Elena a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Elena has been given almost only to girls: 104 boys in 144 years of records.
Girls and boys named Elena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Elena, and how old are they?
99,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 108,117 Americans ever recorded as Elena. The median Elena alive today is 14 years old; half are between 6 and 30.
The 2020 Census counted 114,540 people named Elena (114,377 women and girls, 163 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 75,627 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 976 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 5,330 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 7,830 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11,300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 25,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 48,600 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Elena born?
The states with the most babies named Elena are California, Texas and Florida, with 40% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 809 | #21 | 1.5× |
| Texas | 786 | #15 | 1.4× |
| Florida | 355 | #30 | 1.0× |
| New York | 222 | #58 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 206 | #26 | 1.0× |
| Arizona | 151 | #20 | 1.4× |
| North Carolina | 149 | #53 | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 141 | #62 | 0.7× |
| Washington | 122 | #35 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 116 | #68 | 0.6× |
Where Elena is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Elena is most over-represented in New Mexico: since 1910 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Elena with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 248,136 babies since 1880, Elena is the most given (44% of them). In 2025 it was given to 4,842 of their 15,086 babies (32%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Elena
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Elena and names like it
- Compare Elena and ElianaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sElena peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Elena since 1910.
- Italian namesWiktionary’s origin for Elena: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Elena.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Elena alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with EMost given first.