Girl · Greek and Hebrew, through German
Lena
Say it: LAY-nah
Meaning
Short form of Helena or Magdalena; Helena is from Greek, of uncertain meaning, and Magdalena means 'woman of Magdala'.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Long used as a pet form, it was one of the most popular girls' names in Germany in the 2000s.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1890s
In the United States
- 140,956 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1891, about 1 in 158 girls
- 1,135 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Lene
| English | Lena |
|---|---|
| Swedish | Lena |
| Italian | Lena |
| Russian | Lena |
Famous bearers
- Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.