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Elen

#11,204 in 2025Girls' name

Form of Helen

Elen has been given to 409 babies in the U.S. since 1911. In 2025 it ranked #11,204 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 17 recorded.

Babies named Elen, 2025

1 in 414,000

Elen over time, 1880–2025

Girls
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elen: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Helen

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Elen means

Elen is a form of Helen.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Elen is used in Welsh, Armenian and Czech.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈɛl.ɛn/ and /ɛ.ˈlɛn/ for Elen.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Elen → Helen → Helena → Ἑλένη. The family’s meaning is “to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”, recorded in Ancient Greek with the source elements swel-.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Helen.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 409 girls were recorded with the name Elen between 1911 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 17 in 2022; its best national rank was #2,022 in 1911.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #12,507 in 2020 to #11,204 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #13,400 in 2015 to #11,204 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Elen?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 201,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#11,204
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elen sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elen. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Elens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elen was born before 2002 — so the typical Elen is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
20.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
53.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
302
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 20.3% of all recorded uses (83).

Is Elen rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−2,112
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,303
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,196
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.14×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
47.1%
Peak was 2022 (17)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
46.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,022
1911

Spellings of Elen

Elen is not the most common spelling — Helen is, with 31.9% against Elen's 0.01%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Elen is used

Across 1910–2025, Elen was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 470,964 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Elen has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Elen around the world

Where Elen ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #2,788
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2010–2010
    #910
    in 2010
  • France
    1972–2025
    #4,004
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2023
    #489
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1960–2004
    #700
    in 2004

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Elen by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#11,204
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,303
Best rank ever
#2,022
1911
Peak year
2022
17 that year
First recorded
1911
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
409
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Elen

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

EleaElenyEleahEleiaEleenEleoraElennaBlenEleinaEleenaEleneEleynaValenEleseElexaKylenEleeElenieEleannaAilenEleyaElesaRylenArlen

Sibling names for Elen

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Elen

Top names of 2022, Elen's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1911Girls' names starting with EArmenian Girl NamesArmenian NamesHelen Variations & Nicknames