Head to head · Girls' names
Lena vs Lilith
#279 vs #277 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Lilith is a whisker ahead (#277 vs #279 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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
The tape is even: Lena and Lilith each lead 3 measures of 6.
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: Lena #44, Lilith — — Lena higher
- 1890s: Lena #47, Lilith — — Lena higher
- 1900s: Lena #59, Lilith — — Lena higher
- 1910s: Lena #79, Lilith #3826 — Lena higher
- 1920s: Lena #118, Lilith #3817 — Lena higher
- 1930s: Lena #179, Lilith #3055 — Lena higher
- 1940s: Lena #259, Lilith #4622 — Lena higher
- 1950s: Lena #362, Lilith — — Lena higher
- 1960s: Lena #420, Lilith #5745 — Lena higher
- 1970s: Lena #433, Lilith #7201 — Lena higher
- 1980s: Lena #473, Lilith #10668 — Lena higher
- 1990s: Lena #536, Lilith #6329 — Lena higher
- 2000s: Lena #490, Lilith #1588 — Lena higher
- 2010s: Lena #313, Lilith #672 — Lena higher
- 2020s: Lena #272, Lilith #270 — Lilith higher
Lena stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Lilith took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lena | Lilith |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #44 | — |
| 1890s | #47 | — |
| 1900s | #59 | — |
| 1910s | #79 | #3826 |
| 1920s | #118 | #3817 |
| 1930s | #179 | #3055 |
| 1940s | #259 | #4622 |
| 1950s | #362 | — |
| 1960s | #420 | #5745 |
| 1970s | #433 | #7201 |
| 1980s | #473 | #10668 |
| 1990s | #536 | #6329 |
| 2000s | #490 | #1588 |
| 2010s | #313 | #672 |
| 2020s | #272 | #270 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lena
- Canada#80
Lilith
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lena
Depends on the longer name behind it: "of Magdala" through Magdalena, or the disputed sense of Helen through Helena.
Lena is a short form, so its meaning is inherited rather than its own. Through Magdalena it points to Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee. Through Helena and Russian Yelena it goes back to Greek Helenē, whose sense is genuinely unsettled — the usual gloss is "torch" or "light", connected to Greek helenē, but scholars have never closed the case. Both routes are real, and a Lena can be told either story truthfully.
Helenē → Helena → Magdalena / Yelena → Lena
How it traveled
Lena is a clipping, and it happened independently in several languages at once. Across German, Scandinavian, Slavic, Italian and Iberian speech, the long names ending in -lena and -lina — Helena, Magdalena, Yelena, Angelina, Karolina — were worn down in daily use to their last two syllables, and the fragment held.
Lilith
linked to "night" or to "wind, air spirit"
The traditional reading ties Lilith to Hebrew *layil*, "night" — the reading behind translations like "night creature" in Isaiah 34:14. Semitic scholars more often trace it to Akkadian *lilītu*, a class of spirit, and beyond that to a Sumerian word for wind or air. Both readings are seriously held; the "night" connection may well be an ancient folk etymology that stuck.
lilītu (Akkadian) → Lilit (Hebrew) → Lilith (Greek and Latin biblical texts) → Lilith (English)
How it traveled
The oldest layer is Mesopotamian: *lilītu* and related figures appear in Akkadian and Sumerian incantations as spirits of the air, invoked to be warded off. The Hebrew *lilit* surfaces once in the Book of Isaiah, in a list of creatures inhabiting a ruined place, and again in the Babylonian Talmud.
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
Lena
LEE-nuh
LEE-nuh is the usual American reading. In German, Swedish, Polish and much of the rest of Europe it is LAY-nuh, and plenty of American families use that pronunciation too. Both are correct for the same spelling, so it is worth deciding which one you will be repeating.
- Leni — Common in German-speaking usage and used as a standalone given name there; informal in English.
- Lenka — The standard Czech and Slovak diminutive, and a full given name in its own right in those countries.
- Len — Casual clipping, mostly family use; also an established short form of the men's name Leonard.
- Lee — Informal, and a given name and surname on its own for both men and women in English.
Lilith
LIL-ith
Stress on the first syllable, which rhymes with "fill." The final -th is soft, as in "with." Armenian and Hebrew speakers say Lilit, with the stress on the second syllable and no -th sound.
- Lily — The most common everyday short form; also stands alone as a given name in its own right, and much more widely used that way.
- Lil — Informal, family-and-friends level; not usually written down.
- Lili — Informal; also a standalone given name in French, German and Hungarian.
- Lilu — Affectionate, invented-at-home variety rather than an established form.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Lena if you want…
- a name holding steadyLena is holding its place on the charts
- a name that charts abroad tooLena is on the national lists of Canada
- a long American recordLena was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Lilith if you want…
- a name on the way upup 39 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalLilith entered the US charts in 1913
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
Lena
Strengths
- The same spelling works unchanged in German, Swedish, Polish, Italian and Portuguese, and transliterates directly from Russian.
- Short, phonetic and easy to write early — five letters, no silent parts, no double consonants to remember.
- Pairs with a longer legal name if you want one: Helena, Magdalena, Elena and Karolina all shorten to it naturally.
To consider
- Two live pronunciations, LEE-nuh and LAY-nuh, means a lifetime of gentle corrections in mixed company — not a problem, but a small recurring one.
- Lina, Leena and Lenna all exist, so expect the occasional misspelling from people who have met one of the others first.
- It is already a diminutive, so there is not much left to shorten. Families who like a pet name usually reach sideways, to Leni or Lulu, rather than down.
Lilith
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and short enough that most people get it right on the first hearing.
- One of the longest documented records of any name on this page — Mesopotamian incantations, the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, medieval texts, nineteenth-century painting and poetry.
- Lily and Lil are ready-made short forms already in wide use, so the everyday version needs no explaining.
To consider
- The strongest association is with a demon and with Adam's rebellious first wife. Many people find that history the best part of the name; some religious relatives will find it the reason to object. Worth knowing which conversation you are walking into.
- Lily is so much more common that a Lilith who goes by Lily will often be assumed to be a Lily, and will spend some time correcting the record on paper.
- The bearers alive today are overwhelmingly young children, so for now the name reads as new to most adults even though the record behind it is ancient.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Lena
25%chance Lena feels dated by 2040
Lena peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
Lilith
40%chance Lilith feels dated by 2040
Lilith sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
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 Lena and Lilith 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 Lena and Lilith?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- The steadiest names in America
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- Jazz age names
- Soft-sounding names built on liquid letters
- all guides
Where Lena and Lilith each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lena or Lilith — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lena or Lilith?
- Lilith, in 2025: Lilith ranked #277 with 1,111 babies; Lena ranked #279 with 1,106 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lena or Lilith?
- Lilith. Over the last five years Lena moved down 8 places; Lilith moved up 39 places.
- Which is the older name, Lena or Lilith?
- Lena was already in use when US records began in 1880; Lilith entered the US charts in 1913. On the American record, Lena is the older name.
- How many people are named Lena and Lilith?
- About 54,000 people named Lena are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,500 people named Lilith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lenas or Liliths in the classroom?
- Lena will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lilith 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Lena, Lilith and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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