Ileana
Feminine · “bright”
Ileana is the Romanian form of Helen, and in Romania it is not merely a name but a character: Ileana Cosânzeana is the heroine of the country's fairy tales, the one the youngest son crosses the world to find.
How old is the name Ileana?
Ileana first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Ileana alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 5,300 people named Ileana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ileana most popular?
Ileana peaked in 1926, reaching #1148 nationally. Today it ranks #3167, 2,019 places below that high. See the whole 1926 chart.
Ileana appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Helene to Ileana
The story of Ileana
Helene reached the Balkans through Greek and Byzantine Christianity as Elena, and Romanian produced Ileana beside it — a form used throughout Romanian folk poetry and story. Ileana Cosânzeana appears in tale after tale as the sought-after heroine, which fixed the name in the national imagination in a way few names manage anywhere. It came to America with Romanian emigration and also, separately, with Spanish-speaking families who use Ileana as a form of Elena.
Meaningscholars disagree
bright, shining
Helen's own meaning is genuinely unsettled. The most-cited reading connects it to a Greek root for torch or light; others link it to a word for a wicker basket or to a pre-Greek name entirely. What is certain is the chain from Greek Helene through Romanian Elena to Ileana.
How the name formed
- Helene
- Elena
- Ileana
Related forms: Eleni · Elena · Yelena · Helen
Pronouncing Ileana
ee-lee-AH-nah
Four syllables with the stress on the third. Americans often say il-ee-AN-uh.
Nicknames for Ileana
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
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 1990139 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1148reached in 1926
- Change vs 2023
- −43.2%50 in 2025, from 88
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.
Ileana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eleni in Greek — same name
- Elena in Spanish — same name
- Yelena in Russian — same name
- Helen in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Ileanas among us
people named Ileana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 32,145 born in 2025 was named Ileana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ileana
- #3167
- Ileana on the 2025 chart
- #901
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ileana went to 50 girls in 2025, but Ileanna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 59, which makes it the 901st most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,266 places above the chart.
- Ileana50
- Ileanna9
About 1 girl in 27,242 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 32,145 for Ileana 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 Modesta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ileana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Modesta climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Modesta's path sketches the road Ileana is walking now.
Ileana 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 Ileana is headed
Ileana should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Ileana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ileana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented chain back to one of the oldest names in Greek literature.
- It is the heroine's name in an entire national tradition of stories, which is a real thing to inherit.
- It works in Romanian and in Spanish without any change of spelling.
- Iliana, Ileana and Illiana are all in use and the spelling will be asked for.
- Four syllables is long, and Americans will shorten it in speech.
- It is close enough to Eliana to be confused with it constantly.
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What they receive
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Ileana
Feminine · #3167 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ileanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,300 people named Ileana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ileana?
- Ileana is the most-used spelling in US records — 50 of the 59 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ileanna.
- How popular is the name Ileana in 2025?
- Ileana ranks #3167 among US girl names in 2025, with 50 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ileana?
- About 1 in every 32,145 US girls born in 2025 was named Ileana — 50 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ileana with classmates?
- Ileana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ileana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lulu#3167 · Lucina#3167 · Irma#3167 · Leyna#3167 · Skylee#3167 · Amairani#3167 · Jorja#3167 · Jozie#3167
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ileana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ileana and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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