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

Barbara Gale: The first hurricane-inspired baby name?

hurricane

In 1950, the United States Weather Bureau started naming Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms.

The initial names came from a radio alphabet that began Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox and George. Because the alphabet happened to include several human names, you could say the first Atlantic storms that were “named” were the Charlies and Georges of 1950-1952.

It wasn’t until three years later that the USWB starting using human names exclusively. In 1953, it replaced the phonetic alphabet with a list of female names. (Male names weren’t thrown into the mix until 1979.)

The first storm with a female name was Tropical Storm Alice — the first storm of the 1953 storm season. I couldn’t find any babies named after Alice, but I did find one named after the second storm, Hurricane Barbara.

Hurricane Barbara traveled up the Eastern seaboard in mid-August. It struck the Outer Banks (islands off the North Carolina coast) on August 13. That night, a baby girl born in New Bern, N.C., to Mr. and Mrs. N. E. Ward was named Barbara Gale.

There were six other named storms (Carol, Dolly, Edna, Florence, Gail and Hazel) that season, but I could only find a namesake for one of them — Florence.

Hurricane Florence struck the Florida panhandle on September 26. Earlier that day, a baby born in Crestview, Florida, to Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Holt was named Sandra Florence.

Since 1953, many more babies — hundreds, probably — have been named for Atlantic hurricanes. Hurricane-inspired baby names I’ve written about here include Hazel (1954), Alicia (1983), Elena (1985), Gloria (1985), Andrew (1992) and Isabel (2003).

P.S. One of the things that helped popularize the idea of naming hurricanes in the first place was George R. Stewart’s book Storm (1941), which also had an influence on the baby name Mariah.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)

Where did the baby name Iniki come from in 1992?

hurricane

In September of 1992, Hurricane Iniki struck the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Iniki was the costliest and most powerful hurricane to hit the state of Hawaii in recorded history.

Like hurricanes Alicia, Andrew, Elena, Gloria and Isabel, Iniki ended up inspiring a few baby names. Unlike those other storms, though, Iniki’s name wasn’t a human name to begin with. It came from the Hawaiian word ‘iniki, which the National Weather Service defines as “sharp and piercing wind.” The Hawaiian dictionary I consulted was a bit more specific:

‘iniki. vi. To punch, nip; sharp and piercing, as wind or pangs of love.

In 1992, the name Iniki popped up in the U.S. baby name data for the very first time:

  • 1994: unlisted
  • 1993: 17 baby girls named Iniki
  • 1992: 28 baby girls and 7 baby boys named Iniki [dual-debut]
  • 1991: unlisted
  • 1990: unlisted

According to news reports, one of the baby boys, Iniki Thor Faamausili, was born in Hawaii to mom Saipisa Faamausili at 2:53 p.m. — not long before Hurricane Iniki made landfall.

In 1993, at least 17 more babies were named Iniki. After that, though, so few babies were named Iniki that the name stopped appearing on the SSA’s annual list.

P.S. Iniki Faamausil’s older brother, Iran, was named after the Persian Gulf War.

Sources:

  • The 1992 Central Pacific Tropical Cyclone Season (Central Pacific Hurricane Center)
  • Pukui, Mary Kawena and Samuel H. Elbert. Hawaiian Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
  • Sanchez, Sandra, Anita Manning and Mary Smaragdis. “What’s in a Name.” USA Today 14 Sept. 1992: 3A.
  • SSA

Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)

Baby born during Hurricane Elena, named Elena

hurricane

On August 30, 1985, while Hurricane Elena was threatening the Mississippi coast, Cheryl Brimage of Biloxi, Mississippi, gave birth to a baby girl at Biloxi Regional Medical Center.

The baby, born four days late, was named Elena. “The baby waited on the hurricane, so I just had to name her Elena,” Cheryl noted.

(The mother of baby Alicia, born 12 days late and named after Hurricane Alicia, used similar reasoning.)

Source: “Mom names baby for Elena.” Gainesville Sun 31 Aug. 1985: 2A.

Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)

Popular baby names in Malta, 2009

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

The last time I wrote about popular baby names in Malta was two years ago. It’s time for an update!

A total of 4,143 babies were born in Malta in 2009. (In 2006, the number was 3,885.) These were the most popular baby names last year:

Girl Names

  1. Maria/Mariah/Marie, 82 baby girls
  2. Elena/Ylenia/Ella, 79
  3. Christina/Kristina/Krista, 63
  4. Eliza/Elizabeth/Lisa, 52
  5. Amy/Aimee, 49
  6. Julia/Gulia, 45
  7. Maya/Maia, 39 [tie]
  8. Emma, 39 [tie]
  9. Martina, 33
  10. Rihanna/Rhiana, 32
  11. Jasmine/Yasmine 31
  12. Keira, 29
  13. Mikela/Michaela, 28
  14. Jade 27
  15. Hannah/Anna/Ann, 26
  16. Nicole, 25 [3-way tie]
  17. Mireille, 25 [3-way tie]
  18. Hailey/Hayley, 25 [3-way tie]
  19. Sarah/Sara, 24
  20. Emilia, 22 [tie]
  21. Lea, 22 [tie]
  22. Thea, 20
  23. Shania, 18 [4-way tie]
  24. Katrina/Kate, 18 [4-way tie]
  25. Amber, 18 [4-way tie]
  26. Kailey/Kayleigh, 18 [4-way tie]
  27. Faith, 17 [tie]
  28. Laura, 17 [tie]

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca, 92 baby boys
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo, 84
  3. Jake, 59
  4. Aiden, 53
  5. Jaden/Jayden, 51
  6. John/Giovanni/Jean, 48
  7. Kaiden/Kayden, 47
  8. Michael/Miguel/Mikele, 46
  9. Nicholas/Nick, 42
  10. Isaac/Izaak, 39
  11. Nathan, 38
  12. Liam/William, 36 [tie]
  13. Gabriel, 36 [tie]
  14. Benjamin/Ben, 35
  15. Alexander/Alessandro/Alejandro, 34 [tie]
  16. Zachary/Zak, 34 [tie]
  17. James, 33 [tie]
  18. Daniel, 33 [tie]
  19. Denzel/Danzil, 31
  20. Keiran, 29
  21. Andre/Andrew/Andrea, 26 [tie]
  22. Sven, 26 [tie]
  23. Julian, 25
  24. Kyle, 24 [tie]
  25. Joseph/Giuseppe/Beppe, 24 [tie]

You’ll notice that Malta still lumps variants together. (They even lump non-variants like Elena and Ella together.) I’m not a big fan of this method because when groupings change from year to year, comparisons become impossible.

Malta also seems to have some issues with spelling. Aidan and Kieran became Aiden and Keiran between 2006 and 2009, for instance. And I wonder if “Gulia” wasn’t supposed to be spelled “Giulia.” (Though I do like the fact that there’s a “Julia/Gulia” grouping. Very Wedding Singer-esque.)

But it’s interesting stuff nonetheless. I’m especially intrigued by all the -ayden names on the boys’ list. (Worldwide phenomenon, anyone?)

If you want to see more from Malta, the top baby names of 2008, 2007, 2004/2005, 2003 and 2002 are available for download.

Source: National Statistics Office – Malta

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)