Eleni
Eleni was given to 240 girls in 2025, #1,038 among girls’ names; 6,822 Americans have been recorded with it since 1946 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,660 Americans named Eleni and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 10 and 35.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Eleni by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Eleni mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Eleni is “a transliteration of the Greek female given name Ελένη (Eléni).”
Transliteration of Greek Ελένη (Eléni), a female given name used in (modern) Greece. Doublet of Helen, Ellen, Helena, and Elena.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Eleni?
#1,038 among girls’ names, 2025
Eleni rose from #1,602 in 2015 to #1,038 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.08 to 0.15 per 1,000.
255 babies in 2024, the peak
Eleni peaked in 2024, when 255 girls were given it, #1,006 among girls’ names. The 240 births of 2025 are 94% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 240 | #1,038 | 0.15 |
| 2024 | 255 | #1,006 | 0.16 |
| 2023 | 215 | #1,130 | 0.13 |
| 2022 | 187 | #1,280 | 0.11 |
| 2021 | 170 | #1,324 | 0.10 |
| 2020 | 149 | #1,451 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 163 | #1,380 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 118 | #1,743 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 139 | #1,573 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 162 | #1,426 | 0.09 |
Every recorded year (78)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 134 | #1,602 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 158 | #1,439 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 151 | #1,472 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 124 | #1,692 | 0.07 |
| 2011 | 150 | #1,491 | 0.09 |
| 2010 | 121 | #1,724 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 146 | #1,549 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 145 | #1,576 | 0.08 |
| 2007 | 137 | #1,624 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 141 | #1,549 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 126 | #1,610 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 122 | #1,601 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 118 | #1,627 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 143 | #1,352 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 115 | #1,600 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 126 | #1,459 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 127 | #1,390 | 0.07 |
| 1998 | 95 | #1,679 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 104 | #1,554 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 124 | #1,357 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 142 | #1,208 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 156 | #1,140 | 0.09 |
| 1993 | 184 | #1,006 | 0.10 |
| 1992 | 146 | #1,196 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 86 | #1,699 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 111 | #1,424 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 106 | #1,403 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 81 | #1,604 | 0.05 |
| 1987 | 104 | #1,320 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 85 | #1,476 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 81 | #1,507 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 77 | #1,493 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 60 | #1,773 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 59 | #1,832 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 53 | #1,991 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 56 | #1,918 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 48 | #2,094 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 65 | #1,640 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 56 | #1,806 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 38 | #2,215 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 50 | #1,844 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 48 | #1,826 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 40 | #2,033 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 45 | #1,862 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 42 | #2,012 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 37 | #2,176 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 22 | #2,863 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 26 | #2,446 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 38 | #1,910 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 27 | #2,315 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 25 | #2,422 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 22 | #2,695 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 27 | #2,318 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 22 | #2,623 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 17 | #3,095 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 13 | #3,552 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 15 | #3,149 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 12 | #3,599 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 18 | #2,747 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,956 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 10 | #3,860 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 7 | #4,792 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 9 | #4,026 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 5 | #5,637 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 8 | #4,051 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 8 | #3,979 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 8 | #3,970 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,581 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Eleni a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Eleni has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 78 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Eleni: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Eleni, and how old are they?
6,660 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 6,822 Americans ever recorded as Eleni. The median Eleni alive today is 22 years old; half are between 10 and 35.
The 2020 Census counted 7,699 people named Eleni (7,684 women and girls, 15 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,527 born in the U.S. The Census count is 39% above 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 181 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 619 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,610 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,020 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,230 |
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 Eleni born?
The states with the most babies named Eleni are California, Texas and New York, with 37% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 31 | #918 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 23 | #1,166 | 0.5× |
| New York | 18 | #870 | 2.3× |
| Florida | 18 | #886 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 16 | #625 | 1.0× |
| Massachusetts | 11 | #490 | 1.9× |
| Maryland | 10 | #516 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 8 | #867 | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 7 | #1,149 | 1.6× |
| Michigan | 7 | #994 | 0.4× |
Where Eleni is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Eleni is most over-represented in New York: since 1946 it was given 2.3 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 Eleni 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 141,616 babies since 1880, Eleni is the third most given (4.8% of them). In 2025 it was given to 240 of their 5,914 babies (4.1%), the fourth 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 Eleni
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 Eleni and names like it
- Compare Eleni and ElenaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sEleni peaked in 2024.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Eleni since 1910.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Eleni.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Eleni alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with EMost given first.