Girl · Greek
Yelena
Say it: yeh-LYEH-nah
Meaning
Russian form of Helen, from Greek Helene, of uncertain origin.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
A common Orthodox name in Russia since the conversion era.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 1,161 babies given this name since 1961
- At its height in 2008, about 1 in 27,000 girls
- 29 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Elena, Елена, Lena
| Ukrainian | Olena |
|---|---|
| Bulgarian | Elena |
| Polish | Helena |
Famous bearers
- Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- National birth statistics of European countries 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.