Lena
Feminine
Lena is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 146,479 girls against 326 boys since 1880.
Lena began as the tail end of longer names — Helena, Magdalena, Yelena — the part people actually said aloud, until it stopped needing the rest. Five letters, two syllables, and a shape that German, Swedish, Polish, Russian and Italian speakers all recognize on sight. It has been in continuous use in America since national name records began, never crowding a classroom, never quite going away.
How old is the name Lena?
Lena was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lena alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 54,000 people named Lena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lena most popular?
Lena peaked in 1884, reaching #41 nationally. Today it ranks #279, 238 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Where it comes from
From Helenē to Lena
The story of Lena
Lena is a clipping, and it happened independently in several languages at once. Across German, Scandinavian, Slavic, Italian and Iberian speech, the long names ending in -lena and -lina — Helena, Magdalena, Yelena, Angelina, Karolina — were worn down in daily use to their last two syllables, and the fragment held. By the nineteenth century it was a given name in its own right in northern Europe, and it crossed the Atlantic with German, Scandinavian and Central European families, which is part of why it took root early in the immigrant-heavy states and has stayed strong there. Its Russian counterpart followed the same road from Yelena, and Lena is also the name of one of the great Siberian rivers.
Meaningscholars disagree
Depends on the longer name behind it: "of Magdala" through Magdalena, or the disputed sense of Helen through Helena.
Lena is a short form, so its meaning is inherited rather than its own. Through Magdalena it points to Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee. Through Helena and Russian Yelena it goes back to Greek Helenē, whose sense is genuinely unsettled — the usual gloss is "torch" or "light", connected to Greek helenē, but scholars have never closed the case. Both routes are real, and a Lena can be told either story truthfully.
How the name formed
- Helenē
- Helena
- Magdalena / Yelena
- Lena
Related forms: Lena · Lena · Лена · Lena · Elena · Lenka
Pronouncing Lena
LEE-nuh
LEE-nuh is the usual American reading. In German, Swedish, Polish and much of the rest of Europe it is LAY-nuh, and plenty of American families use that pronunciation too. Both are correct for the same spelling, so it is worth deciding which one you will be repeating.
Nicknames for Lena
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19182,937 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #41reached in 1884
- Change vs 2022
- −9.3%1,106 in 2025, from 1,220
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.
Lena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lena in German — same name
- Lena in Swedish — same name
- Лена in Russian — transliteration
- Lena in Polish — same name
- Elena in Italian — related form
- Lenka in Czech — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Pennsylvania. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Lenas among us
people named Lena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,453 born in 2025 was named Lena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lena
- #279
- Lena on the 2025 chart
- #230
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lena went to 1,106 girls in 2025, but Leena, Lenna and Leenah are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 1,441, which makes it the 230th most-given girls’ name of the year — 49 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,115 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,453 for Lena 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
Fashion outlook
Lena peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lena is headed
Lena 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.
Lena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The same spelling works unchanged in German, Swedish, Polish, Italian and Portuguese, and transliterates directly from Russian.
- Short, phonetic and easy to write early — five letters, no silent parts, no double consonants to remember.
- Pairs with a longer legal name if you want one: Helena, Magdalena, Elena and Karolina all shorten to it naturally.
- A long unbroken record in the US, familiar to every generation without ever having been a name found several times in one classroom.
- Two live pronunciations, LEE-nuh and LAY-nuh, means a lifetime of gentle corrections in mixed company — not a problem, but a small recurring one.
- Lina, Leena and Lenna all exist, so expect the occasional misspelling from people who have met one of the others first.
- It is already a diminutive, so there is not much left to shorten. Families who like a pet name usually reach sideways, to Leni or Lulu, rather than down.
- In the US the name is still strongly represented among the oldest generations, and some people will associate it with a great-grandmother before a baby.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lena to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Lena? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lena
Feminine · #279 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 54,000 people named Lena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lena?
- Lena is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,106 of the 1,441 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Leena, Lenna and Leenah.
- How popular is the name Lena in 2025?
- Lena ranks #279 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,106 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lena?
- About 1 in every 1,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Lena — 1,106 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lena with classmates?
- Lena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Azalea#278 · Alanna#280 · Shiloh#281 · Lilith#277 · Harmony#276 · Sylvie#282 · Lola#275 · Rosie#283
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lena and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle