Head to head · Girls' names
Abigail vs Elena
#41 vs #42 in 2025
Abigail is a whisker ahead (#41 vs #42 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Abigail is stepping back from its peak, Elena is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Elena has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Abigail leads 4 measures of 6; Elena leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Abigail #588, Elena #760 — Abigail higher
- 1890s: Abigail #898, Elena #681 — Elena higher
- 1900s: Abigail #1049, Elena #580 — Elena higher
- 1910s: Abigail #1236, Elena #494 — Elena higher
- 1920s: Abigail #1431, Elena #468 — Elena higher
- 1930s: Abigail #1231, Elena #518 — Elena higher
- 1940s: Abigail #1030, Elena #507 — Elena higher
- 1950s: Abigail #731, Elena #484 — Elena higher
- 1960s: Abigail #644, Elena #440 — Elena higher
- 1970s: Abigail #364, Elena #397 — Abigail higher
- 1980s: Abigail #144, Elena #372 — Abigail higher
- 1990s: Abigail #51, Elena #303 — Abigail higher
- 2000s: Abigail #8, Elena #213 — Abigail higher
- 2010s: Abigail #8, Elena #111 — Abigail higher
- 2020s: Abigail #26, Elena #49 — Abigail higher
Elena stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Abigail has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Abigail | Elena |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #588 | #760 |
| 1890s | #898 | #681 |
| 1900s | #1049 | #580 |
| 1910s | #1236 | #494 |
| 1920s | #1431 | #468 |
| 1930s | #1231 | #518 |
| 1940s | #1030 | #507 |
| 1950s | #731 | #484 |
| 1960s | #644 | #440 |
| 1970s | #364 | #397 |
| 1980s | #144 | #372 |
| 1990s | #51 | #303 |
| 2000s | #8 | #213 |
| 2010s | #8 | #111 |
| 2020s | #26 | #49 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Abigail
- Canada#25
Elena
- France#42
- Canada#48
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Abigail
my father is joy
A Hebrew sentence joining the word for father to one meaning joy or exultation. It is one of a set of names built the same way, and the construction is a statement about the family rather than a description of the child.
Avigayil → Abigail
How it traveled
In the spring of seventeen seventy-six, with independence being drafted, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband asking him to remember the ladies in the new code of laws and to be more generous to them than his ancestors had been. She added that all men would be tyrants if they could, and that women would not hold themselves bound by laws in which they had no voice.
Elena
Most often read as "torch" or "light", though the root is genuinely disputed
Elena goes back to Greek Helenē, and nobody has settled what that word meant. The two long-standing readings connect it to helenē, a torch, and to selas, brightness or light; a third links it to the moon-name Selene. The name is far older than the explanations offered for it, which is why the explanations compete.
Helenē → Helena → Elena
How it traveled
The name begins in Greek as Helenē, borne by the figure at the center of Homer's Iliad, and passes into Latin as Helena. From Latin it settled across the Romance and Slavic worlds, losing its initial H along the way: Elena in Italian, Spanish and Romanian, Yelena in Russian.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Abigail
AB-ih-gayl
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The final syllable keeps a full vowel rather than reducing, which is what allows Gail to come off it as a separate name.
- Abby — The standard familiar form, and now a name in its own right.
- Gail — The back of the name, and a complete name on its own.
- Abi — The front in the shorter spelling, commoner in Britain.
Elena
eh-LAY-nuh
Also widely said eh-LEH-nah, closer to the Spanish and Italian, and some families stress the first syllable: EH-leh-nah. All three are established, so it is worth deciding which one you want and saying it that way from the start.
- Ellie — The most common English short form, and a standalone given name in its own right.
- Lena — The standard shortening in Italian, German and Slavic families; also used alone as a full name.
- Elle — A clipped, one-syllable option; independently in use as a given name.
- Nellie — An older short form of the Helen family, informal and still recognized across generations.
- Also Lenka, Elenita.
Who has carried each name
Abigail
Abigail Adams (b. 1744) — Founding-era First Lady who told her husband to "remember the ladies"
Abigail Breslin (b. 1996) — Oscar-nominated at age 10 for Little Miss Sunshine
Elena
Elena Ferrante (b. 1943) — Mystery-shrouded author of My Brilliant Friend
Elena Kagan (b. 1960) — US Supreme Court justice
Elena Cornaro Piscopia (b. 1646) — First woman ever to earn a doctoral degree (Padua, 1678)
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Abigail if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAbigail is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowAbigail is stepping back from its peak
Choose Elena if you want…
- a name on the way upup 13 places on the charts in five years
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Ellie, Lena and Elle
- a name that charts abroad tooElena is on the national lists of France and Canada
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 51% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 84% for Abigail
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Abigail
Strengths
- Abby and Gail come from opposite ends and sound nothing alike.
- The meaning is a full sentence and is documented all the way back.
- It is understood everywhere in the English-speaking world.
To consider
- It has been very common for two decades, so a classroom will hold others.
- Abigale and Abbigail are both recorded and the spelling will be asked about.
- It is recorded for sons as well, though so rarely that a boy would be explaining it.
Elena
Strengths
- The same spelling works in Italian, Spanish, Romanian and Russian-speaking families, with no adjustment and no explanation needed.
- Several long-established short forms already exist — Ellie, Lena, Elle — so nothing has to be invented.
- Part of the Helen family, one of the oldest documented name lines in Europe, in unbroken use since ancient Greek.
To consider
- Three pronunciations are all correct, and Elena will spend some of her life correcting people who chose a different one.
- It sits in a crowded field of near-identical spellings — Elaina, Alaina, Helena, Alayna — so expect to spell it aloud fairly often.
- The name is climbing steadily, so it is likely to feel more common by the time she reaches school than it does now.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Abigail
84%chance Abigail feels dated by 2040
Abigail is coming down from a big peak (#4 in 2005). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Elena
51%chance Elena feels dated by 2040
Elena is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Abigail and Elena in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Abigail and Elena?
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- all guides
Every list here names both Abigail and Elena — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Abigail or Elena — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Abigail or Elena?
- Abigail, in 2025: Abigail ranked #41 with 4,941 babies; Elena ranked #42 with 4,836 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Abigail or Elena?
- Elena. Over the last five years Abigail moved down 29 places; Elena moved up 13 places.
- Which is the older name, Abigail or Elena?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Abigail and Elena?
- About 407,000 people named Abigail are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 100,000 people named Elena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Abigails or Elenas in the classroom?
- Abigail will almost certainly be the only one in school. Elena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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