Angelena
Feminine · “messenger”
Angelena is Angela lengthened twice. First the Italian diminutive makes Angelina; then American spelling swaps that ending for its own, and the result carries two layers of addition on a name that was already complete.
How old is the name Angelena?
Angelena first appears in US birth records in 1902 — 123 years ago. The typical Angelena alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 2,800 people named Angelena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Angelena most popular?
Angelena peaked in 1909, reaching #1369 nationally. See the whole 1909 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From angelos to Angelena
The story of Angelena
Italian makes affectionate forms with -ina, and it makes them freely: Angelina, Carolina, Marcellina, Nicolina. English borrowed the finished names without borrowing the rule, and then found that its own -ena ending sounded almost identical and was already busy on Helena and Magdalena. So the two endings became interchangeable in American records, and a name could be written either way in the same family in the same decade. Angelena is the American ending on an Italian construction on a Greek word, and each layer was added by people who did not know the layer beneath was already doing that job.
Meaning
messenger
The Greek word behind the name meant a messenger before it meant a winged being. The endings added on top carry no meaning of their own.
How the name formed
- angelos
- Angela
- Angelina
- Angelena
Related forms: Angelina · Angelina · Angelina
Pronouncing Angelena
an-juh-LEE-nuh
Four syllables with the weight on the third. Italian says the same shape with a fuller first vowel and a slightly harder g.
Nicknames for Angelena
Moderate
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
- 1902
- Most girls named
- 2005119 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1369reached in 1909
- Change vs 2022
- +33.3%12 in 2024, from 9
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.
Angelena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Angelina in Italian — related form
- Angelina in Spanish — related form
- Angelina in Portuguese — related form
Angelenas among us
people named Angelena are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Angelena sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Every part of it is familiar, so the name is read correctly at sight.
- It carries several short forms with quite different characters.
- It is recognized across Italian, Spanish and Portuguese as well as English.
- Angelina is far commoner and will be written instead.
- Four syllables is long, and the name will be shortened by others.
- It reads clearly as a name of the turn of the twentieth century in America.
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Angelena
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Angelenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Angelena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Angelena in 2025?
- Angelena is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Angelena with classmates?
- Angelena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anna#107 · Ashley#164 · Amanda#493 · Amy#257 · Angela#408 · Alice#65 · Ann#1076 · Andrea#235
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Angelena? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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