Head to head · Girls' names
Lena vs Lola
#279 vs #275 in 2025
Lola is a whisker ahead (#275 vs #279 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lola is stepping back from its peak, Lena is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Lena 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
The tape is even: Lena and Lola each lead 2 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, Lola #124 — Lena higher
- 1890s: Lena #47, Lola #113 — Lena higher
- 1900s: Lena #59, Lola #108 — Lena higher
- 1910s: Lena #79, Lola #136 — Lena higher
- 1920s: Lena #118, Lola #159 — Lena higher
- 1930s: Lena #179, Lola #179
- 1940s: Lena #259, Lola #253 — Lola higher
- 1950s: Lena #362, Lola #375 — Lena higher
- 1960s: Lena #420, Lola #599 — Lena higher
- 1970s: Lena #433, Lola #870 — Lena higher
- 1980s: Lena #473, Lola #1545 — Lena higher
- 1990s: Lena #536, Lola #2553 — Lena higher
- 2000s: Lena #490, Lola #573 — Lena higher
- 2010s: Lena #313, Lola #231 — Lola higher
- 2020s: Lena #272, Lola #261 — Lola higher
Lena stood higher in 11 of 14 decades; Lola has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lena | Lola |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #44 | #124 |
| 1890s | #47 | #113 |
| 1900s | #59 | #108 |
| 1910s | #79 | #136 |
| 1920s | #118 | #159 |
| 1930s | #179 | #179 |
| 1940s | #259 | #253 |
| 1950s | #362 | #375 |
| 1960s | #420 | #599 |
| 1970s | #433 | #870 |
| 1980s | #473 | #1545 |
| 1990s | #536 | #2553 |
| 2000s | #490 | #573 |
| 2010s | #313 | #231 |
| 2020s | #272 | #261 |
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
Lola
- France#53
- England & Wales#87
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.
Lola
short form of Dolores, "sorrows"
Dolores comes from the Spanish title María de los Dolores, Mary of the Sorrows, referring to the Virgin's Seven Sorrows. Lola is the household diminutive of that name; the sorrowful sense belongs to the devotional title, not to everyday use of Lola.
María de los Dolores → Dolores → Lola → Lolita
How it traveled
The name grew out of Spanish Catholic devotion: girls were named María de los Dolores for the Virgin's Sorrows, and Dolores was clipped in family speech to Lola, with Lolita as a further step down. By the nineteenth century Lola was circulating well beyond Spanish-speaking households, carried by stage performers and travelers into English, French and German use.
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.
Lola
LOH-luh
Stress on the first syllable. In Spanish and French both vowels are fuller: LOH-lah. Spelling almost never needs to be repeated.
- Lo — The commonest informal trim, used within families rather than on paper.
- Lolo — Playful doubling used mostly with young children; note it means grandfather in Tagalog.
- Lolita — The traditional Spanish diminutive of Lola; now carries the association with Nabokov's novel in English.
- Lols — A casual British-style trim, mostly among peers and in texting.
- Also Dolores.
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…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Lena from Lola.
Choose Lola if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsLola is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooLola is on the national lists of France and England & Wales
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.
Lola
Strengths
- Four letters, one obvious spelling, and it is read correctly on sight by English, Spanish and French speakers alike.
- An unbroken record in American use stretching back well over a century, so it reads as inherited rather than newly coined.
- Also charts in France and in England & Wales, which makes it travel well.
To consider
- In Tagalog, lola means grandmother — a warm word, but if your family or community is Filipino, expect that double meaning to come up often.
- The traditional diminutive Lolita now carries the association with Nabokov's novel in English, which is worth knowing before it arrives from someone else's mouth.
- It is already a nickname, so there is not much left to shorten. Some parents like the finality of that; others miss having a longer version to grow into.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Lola 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 Lola?
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 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 Lola each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lena or Lola — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lena or Lola?
- Lola, in 2025: Lola ranked #275 with 1,132 babies; Lena ranked #279 with 1,106 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lena or Lola?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Lena moved down 8 places; Lola moved down 39 places.
- Which is the older name, Lena or Lola?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Lena and Lola?
- About 54,000 people named Lena are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 46,500 people named Lola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lenas or Lolas in the classroom?
- Lena will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lola 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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