How popular is the baby name Lena in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, see baby names similar to Lena and check out all the blog posts that mention the name Lena.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Lena

Number of Babies Named Lena

Born in the U.S. Since 1880

Posts that Mention the Name Lena

Popular Baby Names in Austria, 2016

According to data released by Statistics Austria, the most popular baby names in the country in 2016 were Anna (and variants) and Lukas (and variants).

Here are Austria’s top 10 girl name-groups and top 10 boy name-groups of 2016:

Girl Name-Groups
1. Anna (plus 20 variants, including Jannah) – 2,204 baby girls
2. Sophie (plus 12 variants, including Zofia) – 1,564
3. Maria (plus 36 variants, including Mery and Mirja) – 1,356
4. Emilia (plus 13 variants, including Emmelie) – 1,150
5. Elena (plus 39 variants, including Aljona and Ilona) – 981
6. Emma (zero variants) – 808
7. Sarah (plus 9 variants, including Saara) – 803
8. Lena (plus 7 variants, including Lenja) – 783
9. Laura (zero variants) – 645
10. Mia (plus 1 variant) – 639

Boy Name-Groups
1. Lukas (plus 11 variants, including Lucca) – 1,520 baby boys
2. David (plus 11 variants, including Dawood) – 989
3. Elias (plus 31 variants, including Elijah and Ilyaz) – 981
4. Jakob (plus 19 variants, including Tiago and Jacques) – 890
5. Maximilian (plus 8 variants) – 838
6. Alexander (plus 31 variants, including Alechandro and Eskandar) – 832
7. Paul (plus 6 variants, including Paulus) – 826
8. Jonas (plus 11 variants, including Yunus) – 823
9. Tobias (plus 2 variants) – 790
10. Felix (plus 2 variants) – 686

In the boys’ top 10, the Felix group replaced the Leon group. In the girls’ top 10, there were no replacements. Here are the 2015 name-group rankings, if you’d like to compare.

In terms of non-combined spellings, the top two names were Anna and David:

Girl Names
1. Anna, 998 baby girls
2. Emma, 808
3. Marie, 710
4. Lena, 678
5. Sophia, 652
6. Laura, 645
7. Mia, 639
8. Sophie, 625
9. Emilia, 592
10. Lea and Valentina (tie), 529 each

Boy Names
1. David, 938 baby boys
2. Maximilian, 829
3. Lukas, 805
4. Tobias, 789
5. Paul, 785
6. Elias, 774
7. Jakob, 756
8. Jonas, 731
9. Alexander, 695
10. Felix, 686

Sources: Anna and Lukas were the most popular baby names in 2016, Anna und Lukas waren auch 2016 wieder die beliebtesten Babynamen

Popular Baby Names in Switzerland, 2016

According to data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (OFS), the most popular baby names in Switzerland last year were Mia and Noah.

Here are the country’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Mia, 488 baby girls
2. Emma, 446
3. Elena, 327
4. Sofia, 318
5. Lena, 308
6. Emilia, 296 [tie]
6. Lara, 296 [tie]
8. Anna, 292
9. Laura, 291 [tie]
9. Mila, 291 [tie]

Boy Names
1. Noah, 477 baby boys
2. Liam, 433
3. Gabriel, 345 [tie]
3. Luca, 345 [tie]
5. Leon, 337
6. Elias, 314
7. David, 302
8. Samuel, 296
9. Louis, 288
10. Julian, 276

In 2015, the top names were also Mia and Noah.

In the girls’ top 10, Emilia replaces Lina.

In the boys’ top 10, Samuel and Julian replace Matteo and Levin.

Here are the top baby names per gender within each of Switzerland’s main language groups:

  • German speakers (64% of Switzerland)
    • Top 3 girl names: Mia, Emma, Emilia
    • Top 3 boy names: Noah, Leon, Luca
  • French speakers (23%)
    • Top 3 girl names: Emma, Alice, Eva
    • Top 3 boy names: Gabriel, Liam, Louis
  • Italian speakers (8%)
    • Top 3 girl names: Sofia, Giulia, Mia/Sophie (tie)
    • Top 3 boy names: Leonardo, Liam, Enea
  • Romansh speakers (less than 1%)
    • Top girl name: Valentina
    • Top boy name: Laurin

Sources: Vornamen der Neugeborenen, Noah and Mia most popular baby names in Switzerland

Popular Baby Names in Poland, 2016

According to data released by the government of Poland, the most popular baby names in the country in 2016 were Zuzanna and Antoni.

Here are Poland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Zuzanna, 8,837 baby girls
2. Julia, 8,637
3. Lena, 8,367
4. Maja, 8,303
5. Hanna, 7,948
6. Zofia, 7,702
7. Amelia, 6,598
8. Alicja, 5,692
9. Aleksandra, 5,428
10. Natalia, 4,809

Boy Names
1. Antoni, 9,183 baby boys
2. Jakub, 8,942
3. Szymon, 8,264
4. Jan, 7,584
5. Filip, 6,674
6. Franciszek, 6,551
7. Mikołaj, 6,380
8. Aleksander, 6,248
9. Kacper, 5,995
10. Wojciech, 5,915

Each of these lists include the same 10 names as the year before, but in slightly different order. (The #1 names in 2015 were Zuzanna and Jakub.)

Here are the top baby names in Warsaw in 2015, and the top baby names in Poland in 2013.

Source: Data for 2016 – Ministry of Digitization (found via Maybe it is Daijiro)

Popular Baby Names in Hungary, 2016

According to data from the Hungary’s Ministry of the Interior (Belügyminisztérium), the most popular baby names in Hungary in 2016 were Hanna and Bence.

Here are Hungary’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Hanna, 1,669 baby girls
2. Anna, 1,206
3. Jázmin, 866
4. Zsófia, 856
5. Zoé, 833
6. Lili, 764
7. Boglárka, 762 – Boglárka is Hungarian for “buttercup.”
8. Luca, 760
9. Emma, 742
10. Léna, 697

Boy Names
1. Bence, 1,800 baby boys – Bence is a form of Vincent.
2. Máté, 1,321
3. Levente, 1,280 – Levente might be based on the Hungarian verb lesz, meaning “will be.”
4. Dominik, 1,173
5. Marcell, 1,146
6. Dávid, 1,123
7. Ádám, 1,117
8. Noel, 1,071
9. Dániel, 1,054
10. Milán, 1,037

In the girls’ top 10, Léna replaces Nóra. In the boys’ top 10, Noel replaces Áron. (Interestingly, the two “replaced” names — if we ignore diacritical marks — are anagrams of one another. They’re palindromic, in fact.)

And how is the name Attila faring in Hungary these days? Here’s the data for the last few years:

  • 2016: Attila ranked 27th (569 baby boys)
  • 2015: Attila ranked 25th (568 baby boys)
  • 2014: Attila ranked 26th (560 baby boys)
  • 2013: Attila ranked 26th (552 baby boys)

Source: Statistics – Hungary’s Deputy State Secretariat for the Administration of the Ministry of the Interior (via Maybe It Is Daijiro)

Why Was Marilyn Monroe Named “Norma Jeane” at Birth?

We already know how Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson, came up with her stage name — “Marilyn” was from Marilyn Miller, and “Monroe” was her mother’s maiden name.

But why was she named “Norma Jeane” as a baby?

In 1922, her mother Gladys, originally from California, moved to Kentucky to try to get her first two children (Robert and Berniece) back from her former husband’s family.

While there, Gladys worked as a housekeeper in the home of Harry and Lena Cohen of Louisville. She also helped care for the couple’s young daughters, Dorothy and Norma Jean.

norma jean cohen, namesake
The Cohen family of KY, 1930 U.S. Census

She eventually returned to California, alone.

In 1926, Gladys had her third and final baby. “She named the child after the little girl she had looked after whilst in Kentucky and, for the sake of respectability, also gave the surname of her former husband, hence naming her Norma Jeane Mortenson (she added an ‘e’ to Norma Jean and changed Mortensen to Mortenson on the birth certificate).”

Which first name do you like more, Marilyn or Norma? Vote below, then leave a comment with your reason…

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Source: Morgan, Michelle. Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed. London: Little, Brown Book Group, 2012.