Elna
Feminine · “Greek Helene”
In much of Europe your name has a day. Sweden, Finland, Poland, Greece and Hungary all keep a calendar in which every date carries names, and for centuries the name day mattered more than the birthday.
How old is the name Elna?
Elna first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Elna alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 900 people named Elna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elna most popular?
Elna peaked in 1917, reaching #502 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,605 places below that high. See the whole 1917 chart.
Where it comes from
From Helene to Elna
The story of Elna
The name-day calendar began as the church calendar of saints and became a civil institution. In Sweden the almanac has assigned names to days since the eighteenth century, revised periodically by a committee, and a Swede's name day is still marked with cake at work; Elna has a day of her own. Poland, Greece, Hungary, Czechia and much of Catholic Europe do the same, and in Greece the name day traditionally outranks the birthday entirely. The effect on the name stock is real: a name in the calendar stays in circulation, and one outside it fades, which is one reason Scandinavian and Greek naming remained conservative for so long. Elna reached American records with Swedish and Danish immigration and peaked in 1917.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek Helene, of unknown meaning
Elna is a Scandinavian short form of Helena, whose Greek original has no established etymology despite frequent claims connecting it to a word for torch or light. It may also be a variant of Ellen or Elin. The American peak is 1917.
How the name formed
- Helene
- Helena
- Elna
Related forms: Elna · Elna · Elin
Pronouncing Elna
EL-nuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Swedish gives the final vowel more weight than English does.
Nicknames for Elna
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
- 1883
- Most girls named
- 1918162 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #502reached in 1917
- Change vs 2023
- −18.2%9 in 2025, from 11
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.
Elna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elna in Swedish — same name
- Elna in Danish — same name
- Elin in Welsh — related form
Elnas among us
people named Elna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Elna
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 Celestine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Celestine climbed just as high around 1902, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Celestine's path sketches the road Elna is walking now.
Elna 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
Elna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables, nothing silent.
- Helena and Ellen are available as fuller forms.
- It is a genuine Scandinavian name rather than a modern coinage.
- It will be heard as Elna, Edna or Elena.
- Helena's own meaning is genuinely unknown.
- The 1917 peak dates its American use.
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What they receive
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Elna
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Elna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elna in 2025?
- Elna ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elna?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Elna — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elna with classmates?
- Elna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elna 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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