Head to head · Girls' names
Elena vs Emily
#42 vs #34 in 2025
Emily is a whisker ahead (#34 vs #42 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Emily 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, Emily 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: Elena #760, Emily #91 — Emily higher
- 1890s: Elena #681, Emily #93 — Emily higher
- 1900s: Elena #580, Emily #101 — Emily higher
- 1910s: Elena #494, Emily #103 — Emily higher
- 1920s: Elena #468, Emily #136 — Emily higher
- 1930s: Elena #518, Emily #166 — Emily higher
- 1940s: Elena #507, Emily #178 — Emily higher
- 1950s: Elena #484, Emily #226 — Emily higher
- 1960s: Elena #440, Emily #246 — Emily higher
- 1970s: Elena #397, Emily #84 — Emily higher
- 1980s: Elena #372, Emily #23 — Emily higher
- 1990s: Elena #303, Emily #4 — Emily higher
- 2000s: Elena #213, Emily #2 — Emily higher
- 2010s: Elena #111, Emily #9 — Emily higher
- 2020s: Elena #49, Emily #22 — Emily higher
Emily stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Elena | Emily |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #760 | #91 |
| 1890s | #681 | #93 |
| 1900s | #580 | #101 |
| 1910s | #494 | #103 |
| 1920s | #468 | #136 |
| 1930s | #518 | #166 |
| 1940s | #507 | #178 |
| 1950s | #484 | #226 |
| 1960s | #440 | #246 |
| 1970s | #397 | #84 |
| 1980s | #372 | #23 |
| 1990s | #303 | #4 |
| 2000s | #213 | #2 |
| 2010s | #111 | #9 |
| 2020s | #49 | #22 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Elena
- France#42
- Canada#48
Emily
- Scotland#6
- England & Wales#34
- Canada#36
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Emily
Usually given as "rival" or "emulating", from Latin aemulus
Emily descends from Aemilia, feminine of the Roman family name Aemilius. The standard reading links that name to Latin aemulus, "rival, striving to equal". But the origins of old Roman gens names are often lost, and some scholars connect Aemilius instead to aemulari in the sense of "eager, industrious", or leave it unexplained. A separate point worth knowing: Emily is not related to Amelia, which comes from the Germanic element amal, "work" — the two names simply grew to sound alike.
Aemilius → Aemilia → Emilia → Emelye → Emily
How it traveled
The name begins with the Aemilii, one of the old patrician families of Rome, whose women were all called Aemilia. Through Italian the name became Emilia, and Boccaccio gave it to a character in his Teseida; Chaucer borrowed the story for The Knight's Tale and wrote her name as Emelye.
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
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.
Emily
EM-i-lee
Stress on the first syllable. The middle syllable often reduces in fast American speech, so it can land closer to EM-uh-lee or even EM-lee — both pass without comment.
- Em — The default informal shortening among friends and family; rarely registered as a given name on its own.
- Emmy — Common childhood form, also spelled Emmie; used as a standalone given name in Scandinavia.
- Millie — Taken from the middle of the name; more often heard as a short form of Millicent or Amelia, and independently popular in Britain.
- Emms — Casual, mostly among peers rather than adults.
Who has carried each name
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)
Emily
Emily Dickinson (b. 1830) — Reclusive poet now ranked among America's greatest
Emily Brontë (b. 1818) — Wrote Wuthering Heights
Emily Blunt (b. 1983) — Star of A Quiet Place and Oppenheimer
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 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 feels very nowElena is climbing the charts fast
Choose Emily if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsEmily is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooEmily is on the national lists of Scotland, England & Wales and Canada
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 51% for Elena
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
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.
Emily
Strengths
- A spelling nearly everyone in the English-speaking world already knows; it needs no explanation over the phone.
- Charts in Scotland, England and Wales, and Canada as well as the US, so it crosses borders without becoming a different name.
- Long-established short forms — Em, Emmy, Millie — meaning the name can be dressed up or down at any age.
To consider
- It sits very close to Emma, Emilia and Amelia, all in wide use. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections, and the occasional letter addressed to the wrong one.
- There is a large adult generation of Emilys, so a child may share the name with teachers and colleagues more often than with classmates.
- Émilie, Emilie and Emely are all live spellings elsewhere, so people will sometimes ask which one you mean before writing it down.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
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.
Emily
12%chance Emily feels dated by 2040
Emily has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
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 Elena and Emily 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 Elena and Emily?
Put both to the vote.
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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
Every list here names both Elena and Emily — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Elena or Emily — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Elena or Emily?
- Emily, in 2025: Emily ranked #34 with 5,451 babies; Elena ranked #42 with 4,836 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Elena or Emily?
- Elena. Over the last five years Elena moved up 13 places; Emily moved down 16 places.
- Which is the older name, Elena or Emily?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Elena and Emily?
- About 100,000 people named Elena are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 817,000 people named Emily are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Elenas or Emilys in the classroom?
- Elena will almost certainly be the only one in school. Emily 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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