Elina
Feminine · “Through Helen”
Elina belongs to the vast family of Helen — the same name that reached Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Greece and came out with a softer shape in each. It has been on American records far longer than its current rise suggests, and it moves easily in the mouth: three open syllables, no hard consonants, nothing to stumble over.
How old is the name Elina?
Elina first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Elina is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 6,000 people named Elina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elina most popular?
Elina peaked in 2025, reaching #764 nationally. Today it ranks #764, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Elina appears on this list:
Works in Scandinavian families too:
Where it comes from
From Helene to Elina
The story of Elina
The oldest form is the Greek Helene, carried into Latin as Helena and from there into nearly every European language. In the north it lost its first syllable: Welsh and Scandinavian speakers said Elin, and Finnish, Estonian and Latvian speakers extended that to Elina and Elīna, which became thoroughly ordinary names across the Baltic and Nordic countries. Greek has its own Elina, a modern short form beside Eleni. American use draws on all of these at once — families with Finnish, Baltic, Greek, Russian and South Asian ties have arrived at the same five letters by different roads.
Meaningscholars disagree
Through Helen, usually read as "torch" or "light"
Elina's route back to the Greek Helene is well documented, but Helene's own meaning has never been settled. The most common reading links it to Greek helene, "torch", and to words for brightness and shining; other scholars connect it to older, pre-Greek material that no longer translates. Elina is also given independently in India and in Hebrew-influenced naming, where families read it on its own terms rather than through Helen.
How the name formed
- Helene
- Helena
- Elin
- Elina
Related forms: Elina · Elīna · Elin · Ελίνα (Elina) · Elena · Helena
Pronouncing Elina
eh-LEE-nuh
The usual American reading. Finnish and Estonian speakers stress the first syllable instead — EH-lee-nah — and both are correct for the name; it is worth deciding which one you will offer when people ask.
Nicknames for Elina
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
- 1896
- Most girls named
- 2025355 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #764reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +15.3%355 in 2025, from 308
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.
Elina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elina in Finnish — same name
- Elīna in Latvian — spelling variant
- Elin in Swedish and Welsh — related form
- Ελίνα (Elina) in Greek — transliteration
- Elena in Italian and Spanish — related form
- Helena in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Elinas among us
people named Elina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,528 born in 2025 was named Elina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Elina
- #764
- Elina on the 2025 chart
- #597
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Elina went to 355 girls in 2025, but Ellina, Elyna and Elinah are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 392, which makes it the 597th most-given girls’ name of the year — 167 places above the chart.
- Elina355
- Ellina17
- Elyna15
- Elinah5
About 1 girl in 4,100 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,528 for Elina 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 Dania test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dania climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dania's path sketches the road Elina is walking now.
Elina is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Elina is headed
Elina 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.
Elina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Every letter is one people already know, and the name is spelled the way it sounds — no silent letters, no doubled consonants to explain.
- Short forms are already in circulation: Ellie, Lina, Elli, Ella, all in real use without needing to be invented.
- Works unchanged in Finnish, Estonian, Greek and Russian, and sits a single letter away from the Latvian Elīna.
- Part of the Helen line, which has been continuously in use since antiquity — a familiar family, an uncommon member of it.
- Elena, Alina and Eleena are all close neighbors, and Elina will be heard as one of them fairly often. Expect to repeat the spelling and, sometimes, the stress.
- Two pronunciations circulate — eh-LEE-nuh in most American mouths, EH-lee-nah in Finland and Estonia. Neither is wrong, so the choice falls to you, and to her later on.
- A child with this name is unlikely to share it with a classmate. That is a genuine pleasure for some children and a small daily chore for others, mostly in the form of correcting adults.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Elina to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Elina
Feminine · #764 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,000 people named Elina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Elina?
- Elina is the most-used spelling in US records — 355 of the 392 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ellina, Elyna and Elinah.
- How popular is the name Elina in 2025?
- Elina ranks #764 among US girl names in 2025, with 355 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elina?
- About 1 in every 4,528 US girls born in 2025 was named Elina — 355 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elina with classmates?
- Elina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kiyomi#764 · Keziah#766 · Azari#766 · Neriah#760 · Indy#768 · Marilyn#760 · Laylani#768 · Charley#760
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elina and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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