Name Awesome

Ilona

#3,860 in 2025Girls' name

To shine, warm, smoulder, burn, through Helen

Ilona has been given to 3,332 babies in the U.S. since 1909. In 2025 it ranked #3,860 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1946, with 102 recorded.

Babies named Ilona, 2025

1 in 87,200

Ilona over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ilona: meaning, origin, and history

To shine, warm, smoulder, burn, through Helen

Ancient Greek

What Ilona means

Ilona belongs to the name family reached through Ilona → Helen → Helena → Ἑλένη. Its meaning is “to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Hungarian Ilona. A rare variant of Helen or Helena.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Ilona (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Ilona is used in English, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Latvian and Lithuanian. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Ilona comes through Hungarian Ilona.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Helen, Helene, Helena and Ἑλένη.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Ilona is pronounced /ɪˈləʊnə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,332 girls were recorded with the name Ilona between 1909 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 102 in 1946; its best national rank was #820 in 1946.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,218 in 2020 to #3,860 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,098 in 2015 to #3,860 in 2025.

How common is Ilona?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 87,200
38 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 42,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,860
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
60,472 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ilona 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 60,472 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ilona. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ilonas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ilona was born before 1961 — so the typical Ilona is around 64 today.

Median birth year
1961
About 64 years old
Biggest decade
1940s
22.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
20.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,293
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1940s — 22.1% of all recorded uses (738).

Is Ilona 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
+952
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,358
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+238
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.06×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
37.3%
Peak was 1946 (102)
Years since peak
79
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#820
1946

Spellings of Ilona

Ilona is not the most common spelling — Lena is, with 10.8% against Ilona's 0.25%.

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 Ilona is used

Across 1910–2025, Ilona was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 33,333 girls, against 1 in 72,313 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 33,333
  2. 2California1 in 50,000
  3. 3New Jersey1 in 50,000
  4. 4Connecticut1 in 100,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 100,000
  6. 6Michigan1 in 100,000
  7. 7Minnesota1 in 100,000
  8. 8Ohio1 in 100,000

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. Ilona has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Ilona around the world

Where Ilona 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
    #4,201
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1978–2004
    #663
    in 2004
  • Ireland
    2011–2012
    #907
    in 2012
  • France
    1925–2025
    #372
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–1999
    #485
    in 1999
  • Canada
    1991–2022
    #3,322
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1951–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS 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. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Ilona

People whose public names include Ilona, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Ilona in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Ilona. Linked forms have their own page here.

ElonaIlanaIlenaLienaEllinaHelenaIleanaIllonaIlonYlonaIlonka

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Ilona by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,860
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,358
Best rank ever
#820
1946
Peak year
1946
102 that year
First recorded
1909
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,332
Count in 2025
38

Names similar to Ilona

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

KeonaAlonaKionaKeyonaWynonaSimonaVeronaDeonaZonaElonaSedonaRomonaTeonaOonaJonaArizonaShonaSonaTonaVionaRionaZionaAnonaRhona

Names with a curve like Ilona

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Ilona, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

CharoletteRuthanneCarolynnRonnieJaneyMarleenSheronSusannKarolynSherronJerilynDennis

Sibling names for Ilona

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 Ilona

Top names of 1946, Ilona's peak yearThe 1940s in fullOther names that peaked in 1946Girls' names starting with IHelen Variations & NicknamesHungarian Girl NamesUncommon Finnish Girl Names