Alena
Feminine · “from Helen”
Alena is the Czech, Slovak and Belarusian shape of a name that has been traveling for close to three thousand years — Helen, of Homer and of the Greek-speaking Mediterranean, worn down and softened at each border it crossed. It has been on the American charts since the nineteenth century without ever crowding a classroom, and it is spelled the way it sounds in most mouths that meet it.
How old is the name Alena?
Alena first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Alena alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 15,000 people named Alena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alena most popular?
Alena peaked in 2015, reaching #596 nationally. Today it ranks #707, 111 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
From Helenē to Alena
The story of Alena
Helenē belonged to Greek myth long before it belonged to churches, and Latin turned it into Helena, which the Roman world carried north and east. In the Slavic languages the initial H fell away and the vowels opened: Elena in the south, Alena in Czech and Slovak lands, Alyona in Russian and Belarusian speech, where it began as a familiar form of Yelena and then stood up on its own. A second road runs into the same spelling — German and Czech speakers have long clipped Magdalena to Alena, so two different long names arrive at one short one. It reached American records in the nineteenth century with Central and Eastern European immigration and has stayed on them since.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Helen — a Greek name whose sense was never settled
Alena descends from Helena (and in some families from Magdalena, 'of Magdala', a village on the Sea of Galilee). The Helena line is clear; what Helenē itself meant in early Greek is not. The oldest serious readings link it to helenē, a word for a torch or basket, and to a root for shining or sunlight; neither has won. Greek naming of that era rarely left an explanation behind.
How the name formed
- Helenē
- Helena
- Elena
- Alena
Related forms: Alyona (Алёна) · Elena · Helena · Eleni · Hélène · Alina
Pronouncing Alena
uh-LAY-nuh
Two pronunciations circulate in the US and both are correct: uh-LAY-nuh follows English habits, while ah-LEH-nuh is the Czech, Slovak and Russian version, with the stress on a short middle vowel. Families usually pick one and hold to it.
Nicknames for Alena
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1891
- Most girls named
- 2015499 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #596reached in 2015
- Change vs 2022
- +2.6%398 in 2025, from 388
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Alena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alyona (Алёна) in Russian / Belarusian — same name
- Elena in Italian, Spanish, Romanian — related form
- Helena in German, Portuguese, Polish — related form
- Eleni in Greek — related form
- Hélène in French — related form
- Alina in Arabic / Turkish usage — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Alenas among us
people named Alena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,038 born in 2025 was named Alena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alena
- #707
- Alena on the 2025 chart
- #350
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alena went to 398 girls in 2025, but Aleena, Alenna and Aleenah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 878, which makes it the 350th most-given girls’ name of the year — 357 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,831 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,038 for Alena itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Karlie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Karlie climbed just as high around 1994, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Karlie's path sketches the road Alena is walking now.
Alena 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Alena is headed
Alena should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Alena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled phonetically for English readers — six letters, no silent parts, and most people write it correctly on the second try.
- Carries ready-made short forms in real use, from Lena to Allie, so the child has choices without inventing any.
- Recognized across Czech, Slovak, Russian, Belarusian and German-speaking regions, and close enough to Elena and Helena to be understood almost anywhere.
- On US records since the nineteenth century and never off them, which puts it well outside the reach of any single fashion.
- Common enough to be familiar on sight, uncommon enough that a classroom rarely holds two.
- The pronunciation genuinely splits — uh-LAY-nuh and ah-LEH-nuh both belong to the name. Expect a lifetime of gentle correcting, or a decision to answer to either.
- It sits in a crowded neighborhood of near-twins: Alaina, Aleena, Alina, Elena, Elaina. Spoken aloud over the phone, it will often need to be spelled out.
- Because Lena and Allie are shared with several other names, the short form on its own will not always point back to Alena.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Alena
Feminine · #707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,000 people named Alena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alena?
- Alena is one of 6 recorded spellings. Aleena is the more common one — 436 births in 2025 against 398 for Alena.
- How popular is the name Alena in 2025?
- Alena ranks #707 among US girl names in 2025, with 398 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alena?
- About 1 in every 4,038 US girls born in 2025 was named Alena — 398 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alena with classmates?
- Alena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kennedi#707 · Angelica#707 · Angie#705 · Drew#705 · Jazmin#710 · Robin#704 · Merritt#703 · Analia#711
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alena and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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