Eldana
Feminine
Eldana is Ethiopian and Eritrean, used in Tigrinya- and Amharic-speaking families, and its American record is recent — peaking in 2014, with the growth of the Habesha community here. Its meaning is not as well documented as its use, which is a common situation for names from languages with a long liturgical tradition and a short lexicographical one.
How old is the name Eldana?
Eldana first appears in US birth records in 2008 — 17 years ago. The typical Eldana is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Eldana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Eldana most popular?
Eldana peaked in 2014, reaching #2888 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 3,228 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Eldana
Ethiopia has one of the oldest continuous Christian naming traditions in the world, and it works differently from the European one. Ge'ez, the liturgical language, has been written since the fourth century, and names are drawn from it, from the Bible in its Ge'ez translation, from Amharic and Tigrinya vocabulary, and from phrases rather than single words — Haile Selassie means 'power of the Trinity', Tesfaye means 'my hope'. Many Ethiopian names are short sentences. Others are single words whose origins are perfectly clear to speakers and have simply never been written down in a form that a reference work outside the country can cite. Eldana is one of those: entirely ordinary where it comes from, undocumented where it has arrived. That gap is a fact about lexicography rather than about the name.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Not established. Eldana is in ordinary use in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and it is sometimes glossed as relating to a place or to the fig tree, but these attributions cannot be traced to a Ge'ez, Amharic or Tigrinya dictionary entry that yields the form. Ethiopian naming draws on Ge'ez, the liturgical language, on Amharic and Tigrinya, and on Arabic, and a name may come from any of them. The honest position is that the name is genuine and its etymology is not on record here.
Pronouncing Eldana
el-DAH-nah
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with open vowels throughout. English speakers reach it readily; the main variation is a first-syllable stress, EL-dah-nah.
Nicknames for Eldana
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
- 2008
- Most girls named
- 201459 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2888reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- −26.9%19 in 2025, from 26
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.
Eldana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eldana in Amharic — same name
- Eldana in Tigrinya — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Maryland, Virginia.
Eldanas among us
people named Eldana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Eldana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jalene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Eldana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jalene climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jalene's path sketches the road Eldana is walking now.
Eldana 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
Eldana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Eldana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Elda and Dana are both complete names available inside it as short forms.
- The spelling is phonetic in English and needs no accents.
- It belongs to a living naming tradition rather than to a fashion.
- The etymology is not documented in sources available outside Ethiopia.
- It is close to Eldana, Aldana and Yordanos in sound and will be misheard.
- It is rare in the United States and will be spelled out routinely.
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What they receive
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Eldana
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eldanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Eldana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Eldana in 2025?
- Eldana ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Eldana?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Eldana — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Eldana with classmates?
- Eldana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Eldana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Eldana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Eldana and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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