Iliana
Feminine · “Usually read as a form of Helen”
Iliana sits in a long line that runs back through Ileana and Elena to Greek Helenē — a name that has been reshaped by Romanian, Greek, Spanish and Bulgarian speakers, each keeping the same four unhurried syllables. In Romanian folk tales the heroine Ileana Cosânzeana carries the older spelling. The version with the i has traveled well in the Americas, and is most at home today in states with deep Spanish-speaking roots.
How old is the name Iliana?
Iliana first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Iliana alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 13,000 people named Iliana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Iliana most popular?
Iliana peaked in 2007, reaching #654 nationally. Today it ranks #730, 76 places below that high. See the whole 2007 chart.
Iliana appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Helenē to Iliana
The story of Iliana
The oldest layer is Greek Helenē, which passed into Latin and then spread through Europe as Elena and Helena. Romanian reshaped it into Ileana, the form that carries the fairy-tale princess Ileana Cosânzeana of Romanian folk tales, and Spanish took up Ileana as well. Meanwhile Greek and Bulgarian arrived at a nearly identical name from a different direction, as the feminine of Ilias and Ilia — Elijah. The spelling Iliana, with the i in the middle, is the form that settled most firmly in the United States, where it has been quietly gaining ground rather than arriving in a rush.
Meaningscholars disagree
Usually read as a form of Helen; in Greek and Bulgarian use, tied instead to Elijah or to the sun
Two serious roads meet at this spelling. As a variant of Romanian and Spanish Ileana, it belongs to the Elena–Helen family, whose Greek root Helenē has itself never been settled, though it is often connected to a word for torch or light. In Greek and Bulgarian, Iliana is instead the feminine counterpart of Ilias/Ilia — that is, Elijah, from Hebrew 'my God is Yahweh' — and is also linked by Greek speakers to helios, the sun. Both readings are genuine; neither cancels the other.
How the name formed
- Helenē
- Helena
- Elena
- Ileana
- Iliana
Related forms: Ileana · Ileana · Iliana (Ηλιάνα) · Iliana (Илиана) · Eliana · Helen
Pronouncing Iliana
ee-lee-AH-nah
Four syllables with the stress on the third. English speakers who read the first letter as a short i say ill-ee-AH-na, and both are heard in the US. Greek speakers place the stress the same way; Romanian Ileana shifts slightly to ee-LYAH-na.
Nicknames for Iliana
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
- 1955
- Most girls named
- 2007453 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #654reached in 2007
- Change vs 2024
- +16.6%380 in 2025, from 326
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.
Iliana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ileana in Romanian — same name
- Ileana in Spanish — spelling variant
- Iliana (Ηλιάνα) in Greek — transliteration
- Iliana (Илиана) in Bulgarian — same name
- Eliana in Italian — related form
- Helen in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Ilianas among us
people named Iliana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,230 born in 2025 was named Iliana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Iliana
- #730
- Iliana on the 2025 chart
- #432
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Iliana went to 380 girls in 2025, but Ilyana, Illiana and Ilianna and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 10 spellings went to 654, which makes it the 432nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 298 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 2,458 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,230 for Iliana 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 Cassondra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Iliana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cassondra climbed just as high around 1989, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cassondra's path sketches the road Iliana is walking now.
Iliana 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 Iliana is headed
Iliana 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.
Iliana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Iliana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The ending it shares with Juliana, Adriana and Eliana means most people can spell it after hearing it once, even if they have never met it before.
- Works unchanged or near-unchanged in Spanish, Romanian, Greek and Bulgarian — useful in a family or a school that spans more than one language.
- Several ready-made short forms, including Lia and Ana, which are established given names on their own.
- Traceable through Ileana and Elena to Greek Helenē, one of the longest continuous name lines in Europe.
- Familiar in sound without being crowded — a child with this name is unlikely to share it in a classroom.
- The near-twins are the real cost: Eliana, Ileana, Ilyana and Iliana all circulate, and Eliana is the more common of them. Expect to spell it and to be called Eliana occasionally for life.
- The two stress patterns — ee-lee-AH-nah and ill-ee-AH-na — both exist in the US, so you may end up correcting the first vowel as often as the spelling.
- It has been gaining rather than fading, so it is likely to be somewhat better known by the time a child born now reaches school than it is now.
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What they receive
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Iliana
Feminine · #730 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ilianas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Iliana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Iliana?
- Iliana is the most-used spelling in US records — 380 of the 654 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ilyana, Illiana, Ilianna, Illyana, Illianna, Ilyanna and Iliyana.
- How popular is the name Iliana in 2025?
- Iliana ranks #730 among US girl names in 2025, with 380 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Iliana?
- About 1 in every 4,230 US girls born in 2025 was named Iliana — 380 in all.
- Will my child share the name Iliana with classmates?
- Iliana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Iliana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Abby#731 · Kathryn#729 · Bristol#728 · Taytum#732 · Keilani#727 · Ramona#733 · Laurel#734 · Persephone#734
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Iliana? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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