Jalena
Feminine · “Aramaic magdala”
Mary Magdalene is Mary of Magdala, and Magdala means tower. The town sat on the Sea of Galilee and its name is a common noun, so the epithet is a postcode rather than a surname. Lena, at the back of a great many modern names, is the last two syllables of it.
How old is the name Jalena?
Jalena first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Jalena alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 1,100 people named Jalena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jalena most popular?
Jalena peaked in 2004, reaching #2998 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 5,364 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Where it comes from
From magdala to Jalena
The story of Jalena
The epithets attached to figures in the gospels are mostly places or descriptions, not family names, because hereditary surnames did not exist in that world. Jesus of Nazareth, Mary of Magdala, Simon the Zealot, Judas Iscariot, whose second word may itself be a place name, and Joseph of Arimathea are all identified by origin or by a characteristic. Magdala has been identified with a site on the lakeshore excavated since 2009, where a first-century synagogue was found. The name is the ordinary Aramaic word for a tower, and towers were common enough that several places carried it. English readers have taken Magdalene as a surname for so long that the town has effectively disappeared behind it, and the shortened Lena, which is now one of the most productive endings in American naming, carries no trace of either.
Meaningscholars disagree
Aramaic magdala, a tower
Jalena joins the Ja- prefix to Lena, which is a clip of Helena or of Magdalena. Magdalene means of Magdala, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee whose name is Aramaic for a tower. Helena's own meaning is genuinely unknown. Which of the two lies behind the Lena is not recoverable, and the prefix carries no meaning. It peaks in 2004.
How the name formed
- magdala
- Magdalena
- Lena
- Jalena
Pronouncing Jalena
jah-LEE-nah
Three syllables, stress on the second. jah-LAY-nah is also heard and the spelling supports both. Jalena and Jolena differ only in the reduced first vowel.
Nicknames for Jalena
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
- 1966
- Most girls named
- 200754 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2998reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- +9.1%12 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.
Jalena in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, New York.
Jalenas among us
people named Jalena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Jalena
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 Raenell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jalena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Raenell climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Raenell's path sketches the road Jalena is walking now.
Jalena 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
Jalena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jalena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Lena is a complete and widely used short form.
- The rhythm is even and easy to say.
- The sound is familiar in English and Spanish alike.
- Two readings of the stressed vowel circulate.
- Jalena, Jolena and Jelena are easily confused.
- The prefix carries no meaning.
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What they receive
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Jalena
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jalenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Jalena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jalena in 2025?
- Jalena ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jalena?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Jalena — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jalena with classmates?
- Jalena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jalena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jalena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jalena and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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