Elene
Feminine form of the Greek name meaning "bright shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 583 living Americans carry the first name Elene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elene today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elene births was 1922 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elene. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Elene with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
583
~ 1 in 587,915 Americans
Peak year
1922
37 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,057
Tracked since 1908
Census
Elene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,057 people with the first name Elene, which placed it at #11,947 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,947
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,057 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elene is White at 67.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.2%) and Hispanic (11.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Elene described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Elene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.4% · 712
- Black or African American13.2% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino11.7% · 124
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 54
- Two or more races1.6% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 10
Popularity
Elene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elene from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 250 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elene by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Elene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Alabama recorded the most babies named Elene, while Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elene
The name Elene has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the word "helene," which means "bright one" or "shining light." It is a variant spelling of the more common name "Helen."
The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to ancient Greek mythology, where Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta, was a figure of immense beauty and the cause of the Trojan War. Her abduction by Paris, a Trojan prince, led to a decade-long conflict between the Greeks and Trojans, as depicted in Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
In the Christian tradition, Elene is associated with Saint Helena, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Born around 248 AD, Saint Helena is revered for her role in establishing Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire and her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where she is credited with discovering the True Cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified.
Another notable historical figure bearing the name Elene was Elene Gamsakhurdia, a Georgian writer and public figure born in 1918. She played a significant role in the preservation of Georgian culture and language during the Soviet era and was a vocal advocate for Georgian independence.
In literature, Elene is the name of the protagonist in the Old English poem "Elene," written sometime between the 7th and 10th centuries. The poem tells the story of Saint Helena's journey to the Holy Land and her discovery of the True Cross.
The name Elene has also been borne by several notable artists and musicians throughout history, such as Elene Ushinskaya (1877-1963), a Russian opera singer and actress, and Elene Reboul (1834-1908), a French poet and writer.
While the name Elene has its roots in ancient Greek mythology and Christian tradition, it has maintained its popularity across various cultures and eras, reflecting the enduring appeal of its meaning and historical significance.
People
Elene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elene as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Elene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 583 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elene going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 587,915 US residents.
Is Elene a common name?
We classify Elene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elene most popular?
The single biggest year for Elene was 1922, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elene is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,057 people with the name Elene, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,947 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Elene in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Elene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elene appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,054 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Elene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elene is White at 67.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.2%) and Hispanic (11.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Elene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.4% (712 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Elene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elene in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Elene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elene in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Elene can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Elene?
See how many people share the name Elene on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.