Yelena
Feminine
Yelena is the Russian of Helen, and Helen's meaning has never been recovered — which leaves one of Europe's most-used names without a translation.
How old is the name Yelena?
Yelena first appears in US birth records in 1961 — 64 years ago. The typical Yelena alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,600 people named Yelena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yelena most popular?
Yelena peaked in 2022, reaching #1497 nationally. Today it ranks #1796, 299 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Helene to Yelena
The story of Yelena
Helena, mother of Constantine, is credited with finding the True Cross and is venerated across the Orthodox world, which carried the name into Russian, Bulgarian and Serbian use. Chekhov gives a Yelena to Uncle Vanya. Russian emigration brought it to America, where it appears in the registers and is in current use.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Through Helen, from the Greek Helene, of genuinely unrecovered origin. The usual gloss 'torch' or 'moon' is a guess, and the name may be pre-Greek. Russian took it as Yelena through the Byzantine Greek. Nothing about the meaning is established.
How the name formed
- Helene
- Yelena
Related forms: Елена · Olena · Helen
Pronouncing Yelena
yeh-LEH-nah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Russian says it the same way; the initial ye is one sound.
Nicknames for Yelena
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
- 1961
- Most girls named
- 2022145 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1497reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- +55.6%112 in 2025, from 72
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.
Yelena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Елена in Russian — transliteration
- Olena in Ukrainian — related form
- Helen in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Yelenas among us
people named Yelena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 14,351 born in 2025 was named Yelena
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 Jona test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yelena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jona climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jona's path sketches the road Yelena is walking now.
Yelena 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 Yelena is headed
Yelena looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 23% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Yelena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Yelena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Helena, mother of Constantine, is a genuinely consequential figure behind it.
- Lena and Alyona are two short forms, both with real records.
- It is standard across Russian, Bulgarian and Serbian naming.
- The meaning is genuinely unrecovered, and honest sources say so.
- Helen is the form English speakers will assume.
- Elena and Yelena are both in use and are easily confused.
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What they receive
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Yelena
Feminine · #1796 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Yelenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Yelena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yelena in 2025?
- Yelena ranks #1796 among US girl names in 2025, with 112 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Yelena?
- About 1 in every 14,351 US girls born in 2025 was named Yelena — 112 in all.
- Will my child share the name Yelena with classmates?
- Yelena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Yelena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Joni#1796 · Astraea#1796 · Jia#1796 · Hellen#1796 · Dailany#1796 · Ivie#1796 · Aysha#1796 · Klara#1796
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yelena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yelena and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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