How popular is the baby name Elena in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Elena.

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Popularity of the baby name Elena


Posts that mention the name Elena

Popular baby names in Switzerland, 2015

Flag of Switzerland
Flag of Switzerland

According to data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the country’s most popular baby names last year were Mia and Noah.

Here are Switzerland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Mia
2. Emma
3. Lara
4. Lena
5. Sofia
6. Mila
7. Anna
8. Elena
9. Laura
10. Lina		1. Noah
2. Liam
3. Luca
4. Gabriel
5. Leon
6. David
7. Matteo
8. Elias
9. Louis
10. Levin

In 2014, the top names were Emma and Noah.

And here are the top names within each of the main language groups:

Language GroupGirl NamesBoy Names
German speakers
(64% of Switzerland)		1. Mia
2. Emma
3. Lena		1. Leon
2. Noah
3. Luca
French speakers
(23%)		1. Emma
2. Alice
3. Eva		1. Gabriel
2. Liam
3. Noah
Italian speakers
(8%)		1. Sofia
2. Emma
3. Noemi		1. Leonardo
2. Alessandro
3. Liam
Romansh speakers
(less than 1%)		1. Alessia1. Laurin

Sources: Vornamen der Neugeborenen – Bundesamt für Statistik, Most popular Swiss baby names in 2015 (via Clare’s Name News)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Spain, 2014

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

According to data from Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, the most popular baby names in Spain in 2014 were Lucia and Hugo.

Here are Spain’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2014:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Lucia, 5,161 baby girls
2. Maria, 4,951
3. Martina, 4,380
4. Paula, 4,210
5. Daniela, 3,792
6. Sofia, 3,568
7. Valeria, 3,246
8. Carla, 3,138
9. Sara, 3,116
10. Alba, 3,111		1. Hugo, 5,121 baby boys
2. Daniel, 4,859
3. Pablo, 4,494
4. Alejandro, 4,116
5. Alvaro, 3,670
6. Adrian, 3,463
7. David, 3,376
8. Martin, 3,181
9. Mario, 3,067
10. Diego, 3,000

Alba replaced Julia in the girls’ top 10.

Martin, which jumped from 20th place to 8th place, replaced Javier in the boys’ top 10.

Here are the 2013 baby names rankings for Spain, if you’d like to compare.

And, just for fun, let’s also check out the nearly 5 million foreign nationals living in Spain. The most common first names among expats (grouped by nation of origin) are:

Female Expat NamesMale Expat Names
1. Fatima (Morocco), 18,493 females
2. Maria (Romania), 12,547
3. Elena (Romania), 10,629
4. Khadija (Morocco), 8,339
5. Mariana (Romania), 7,535
6. Mihaela (Romania), 6,050
7. Ana Maria (Romania), 5,265
8. Aicha (Morocco), 5,208
9. Naima (Morocco), 4,963
10. Daniela (Romania), 4,823		1. Mohamed (Moroccan), 40,658 males*
2. Mohammed (Moroccan), 19,401
3. Ahmed (Moroccan), 15,003
4. Said (Moroccan), 9,513
5. Gheorghe (Romanian), 9,399
6. Vasile (Romanian), 9,045
7. Ioan (Romanian), 9,035
8. Rachid (Moroccan), 8,956
9. Youssef (Moroccan), 8,583
10. Mustapha (Moroccan), 7,468

*The total for Mohamed is even higher when you factor in the 2,436 Mohameds that came from Algeria.

Sources: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, And the most common expat name in Spain is…

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)

Popular baby names in Malta, 2014

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

According to data from Malta’s National Statistics Office, the most popular name-groups in Malta in 2014 were Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella and Luke/Luca/Lucas.

Here are Malta’s top 10 girl and boy name-groups of 2014:

Girl Names

  1. Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella, 97 baby girls
  2. Julia/Yulia/Julianne, 72
  3. Emma/Emmanuela/Ema, 70
  4. Eliza/Elisa/Elizabeth/Elise, 69
  5. Catherine/Katrina/Kate/Katya, 46
  6. Maya/Mia/Myah, 44
  7. Lea/Leah/Leia, 42
  8. Emilia/Emily/Emelie, 41
  9. Amy/Aimee, 39
  10. Maria/Marija/Mariah/Marie, 37 [tie]
    • Anna/Hannah/Ann, 37 [tie]

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca/Lucas, 98 baby boys
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo, 97
  3. Jacob/Jake, 77
  4. Zachary/Zak/Zack, 59
  5. Michael/Miguel/Mikhail, 53
  6. Liam/William, 51 [tie]
    • John/Jean/Jonathan/Juan/Gan, 51 [tie]
  7. Benjamin/Ben, 51
  8. Kaiden/Kayden/Kai ,46 [tie]
    • Alexander/Alessandro/Alec, 46 [tie]
  9. Andrew/Andreas/Andre/Andy, 45
  10. Joseph/Beppe/Giuseppe/Josef, 40

Down in 15th place on the boys’ side is “Yannick/Yan” — both are versions of John, and yet they’re not part of the John group, which is tied for 6th.

Speaking of strange things…

Quote about Malta being unable to use Maltese fonts for birth registrations (Times of Malta)

(My blog also cannot handle Maltese fonts, or else I’d be able to write out that paragraph for you.)

I’ve seen governments (e.g., NWT, California) make excuses about not being able to render minority/ethnic names properly on birth certificates, but I’ve never heard of a country that couldn’t render names from its own national language.

Oh, Malta.

Here are the 2013, 2012, 2009, 2007, and 2006 rankings.

Sources: Naming Babies – National Statistics Office – Malta, Luke and Elena remain most popular names given to newborns, ‘Dotty’ system bars patriot baby names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)

Nicolae Ceausescu & his brother, Nicolae Ceausescu

Romanian politician Nicolae Ceausescu (1918-1989)
Nicolae Ceausescu

Nicolae Ceausescu (pronounced chow-SHES-koo) was Romania’s head of state for more than two decades, from 1967 to 1989.

The notorious communist leader was one of nine surviving siblings:

  1. Niculina Ceausescu
  2. Marin Ceausescu
  3. Nicolae Ceausescu
  4. Florea Ceausescu
  5. Nicolae Ceausescu
  6. Ilie Ceausescu
  7. Maria Ceausescu
  8. Elena Ceausescu
  9. Ion Ceausescu

Did you catch it? “Nicolae” is listed twice. The first one is the dictator, the second one is his younger brother, born when the first Nicolae was about 6.

Ceausescu biographer John Sweeney writes off the repetition: “His parents had more children than they knew names.”

But here’s how Alice Miller, psychologist and child abuse expert, explains it:

To my question as to how a brother could also be christened Nicolae, I repeatedly received the reply that the father was drunk “as usual” at the time the child was named. By all accounts, he had simply forgotten that he already had a son named Nicolae — though no one could explain to me how Ceausescu’s mother could also forget that fact. This information seemed to arouse little surprise in Bucharest.

She also says the situation “throws light on the dictator’s obsessive desire for revenge,” which must have come from his “insatiable determination to gain at last the recognition completely denied him as a child.”

I haven’t found anything to verify Alice’s version of the story but, if true, it’s rather depressing. Naming and drinking do not mix. (Robert could have told you that.)

Sources:

  • Miller, Alice. Breaking Down the Wall of Silence: The Liberating Experience of Facing Painful Truth. New York: Dutton, 1991.
  • Sweeney, John. The Life and Evil Times of Nicolae Ceausescu. London: Hutchinson, 1991.
  • Nicolae Ceausescu – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Ceausescu Anul Nou 1976-77 (photo #LA380, 380/1976, Fototeca online a comunismului românesc, accessed 16 Mar. 2025)