Ena
A Christian feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "eternal" or "blessing".
Name Census estimates that about 1,929 living Americans carry the first name Ena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ena today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ena births was 1906 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ena. 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 Ena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 177,685 Americans
Peak year
1906
89 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,213
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,588 people with the first name Ena, which placed it at #4,179 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
#4,179
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,588 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
41.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ena is Hispanic at 41.5%. The next largest groups are White (25.4%) and Black (20.9%). 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 Ena 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 Ena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino41.5% · 1,905
- White25.4% · 1,167
- Black or African American20.9% · 958
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.5% · 389
- Two or more races2.9% · 134
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 35
Popularity
Ena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ena from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 427 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Ena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ena 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 Ena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Enas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Ena, while Pennsylvania, Missouri, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ena
The name Ena is believed to have originated as a diminutive form of the Slavic name Yelena, which is derived from the Greek name Helen. Helen itself is derived from the Greek word "helene," meaning "bright" or "shining one." The name Ena has been used across various cultures and regions, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ena can be found in ancient Greek literature, where it was occasionally used as a shortened version of the name Helen. In the medieval period, the name Ena was popular among Slavic communities in regions such as Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia. It was also used in some parts of Italy, likely due to cultural exchanges with neighboring Slavic populations.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ena. One of the earliest recorded examples is Ena of Zaragoza (c. 851-924), a Spanish Benedictine abbess and saint who founded the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña in Aragon. Another notable figure was Ena Bunant (c. 1300-1370), a French noblewoman and the mistress of King John II of France.
In the 19th century, Ena Purnell (1826-1905) was a British author and editor who wrote extensively on women's issues and advocated for educational reforms. During the same period, Ena Hickok (1832-1911) was an American suffragist and temperance activist who played a significant role in the women's rights movement in Kansas.
More recently, Ena Lucía Portela (1972-present) is a Cuban writer and literary critic known for her experimental and postmodern works, while Ena Brkić (1968-present) is a Bosnian singer and actress who has had a successful career in both music and television.
It is worth noting that while the name Ena has been used across various cultures and time periods, its popularity and prevalence have varied. Nevertheless, it remains a unique and distinctive name with a rich history rooted in ancient Greek and Slavic traditions.
People
Ena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ena 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
Ena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,929 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ena 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 177,685 US residents.
Is Ena a common name?
We classify Ena as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,543 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ena most popular?
The single biggest year for Ena was 1906, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ena is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,588 people with the name Ena, or 1.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,179 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 Ena 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 Ena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ena appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,587 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Ena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ena is Hispanic at 41.5%. The next largest groups are White (25.4%) and Black (20.9%). 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 Ena most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.5% (1,905 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 Ena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ena 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 Ena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ena 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 Ena 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 people have Ena as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.