Ilene
Feminine
Ilene sits between two names — Eileen, which is Irish, and Aileen, which may be Norman — and behind both may stand Helen, whose own meaning has never been recovered.
How old is the name Ilene?
Ilene first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Ilene alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 10,000 people named Ilene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ilene most popular?
Ilene peaked in 1938, reaching #347 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 5,769 places below that high. See the whole 1938 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aveline to Ilene
The story of Ilene
Eibhlín was a common Irish name, anglicized as Eileen and Aileen, and Irish emigration brought both to America, where they rose sharply in the early twentieth century. American families produced Ilene and Ileen as further spellings, and Ilene peaked around 1937 at the height of the whole family.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Eileen family descends from the Irish Eibhlín, itself probably from the Norman Aveline — a diminutive of a Germanic name — though a route through Helen is often claimed. Helen's own Greek origin is genuinely unrecovered. Nothing about the chain is settled.
How the name formed
- Aveline
- Eibhlín
- Eileen
- Ilene
Related forms: Eileen · Aileen · Eibhlín
Pronouncing Ilene
eye-LEEN
Two syllables, stress on the second. Ilene, Eileen and Aileen are said identically.
Nicknames for Ilene
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
- 1891
- Most girls named
- 1950453 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #347reached in 1938
- Change vs 2022
- +11.8%19 in 2025, from 17
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.
Ilene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eileen in English — spelling variant
- Aileen in English — spelling variant
- Eibhlín in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Ilenes among us
people named Ilene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Ilene
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 Ena test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ilene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ena climbed just as high around 1906, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ena's path sketches the road Ilene is walking now.
Ilene 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
Ilene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ilene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The end stress gives it a strong rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- It belongs to a large and genuinely Irish family of names.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The meaning is genuinely unrecovered at every step of the chain.
- Eileen is much the commoner spelling.
- It is strongly period-coded to the 1930s and 1940s.
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What they receive
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Ilene
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ilenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,000 people named Ilene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ilene in 2025?
- Ilene ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ilene?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Ilene — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ilene with classmates?
- Ilene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ilene
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 Ilene? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ilene and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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