A LITTLE UNCOMMON. ENTIRELY YOURS.
Meaning, origin and pronunciation, with published usage by place and year.
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Woman from Magdala through Magdalena; a shining-root proposal through the Helen family.
Lena can be a familiar form of Magdalena, Helena or Yelena. Magdalena continues a byname for a woman from Magdala. Helena and Yelena belong to the Helen family, whose older Greek root has a proposed connection with shining or warmth rather than a settled literal translation. These are different naming routes, not meanings assigned to every Lena.
Scandinavian, German and Russian short-form traditions of Helena, Magdalena and Yelena.
The English given-name etymology explicitly records these familiar-form traditions. Helena and Yelena connect to the Greek Helen family; Magdalena has a separate Magdala place-based history. Same-spelled rivers and towns have their own origins.
Not yet published for this spelling.
Counts apply only to the exact spelling, place, year and recorded usage shown. Places are separate; these figures are never added into a worldwide total. Missing or suppressed records never mean zero.
| Place | Year | Recorded usage | Published births | Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 2025 | Girls | 266 · preliminary | 95 | 2025 figures are preliminary. Quebec counts below five are randomly imputed by the publisher before national aggregation. Accents are removed in the source; this profile was matched only where the catalog spelling was unambiguous. Unpublished values are unknown, not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| France | 2025 | Girls | 130 (rounded to 5) | 406 | Counts are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Ranks use unrounded publisher counts with randomly ordered ties; equally rounded counts can have different ranks. National coverage excludes Mayotte before 2012. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Automated direction labels are withheld for this rounded-count series. Rank basis: source published. |
| England & Wales | 2025 | Girls | 158 | 288 | Published ranks differ from ranks calculated over visible rows. Counts retained; automated trend labels withheld. Rank basis: source published. |
| Northern Ireland | 2025 | Girls | 6 | 259 | Two rank discrepancies and alternate-view differences retained. Automated trend labels withheld. Rank basis: source published. |
| Scotland | 2025 | Girls | 21 | 191 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| Ireland | 2025 | Girls | 16 | 266 | Names below three occurrences are unpublished. Accent recording changed in 2018; comparisons across that boundary may not describe the same spelling coverage. Counts refer to registrations in the year. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| United States | 2025 | Girls | 1,106 | 279 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: calculated from published counts. |
| United States | 1975 | Boys | 6 | 4797 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: calculated from published counts. |
Canada, Ireland and France coverage includes confidently matched existing profiles only; unmatched spellings are awaiting review. French counts are rounded to five.
Open an entry for its source, credit, licence and full qualifications. Different name traditions remain separate.
Checked against cited source
The exact English section documents female given-name use, separately from the same-spelled river and town names. Credit: Wiktionary contributors, exact Lena entries. Sources: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Lena&oldid=90211164. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized the documented name route or language-specific relationship. No source audio, images or quotations reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
Lena can be a familiar form of Magdalena, Helena or Yelena. Magdalena continues a byname for a woman from Magdala. Helena and Yelena belong to the Helen family, whose older Greek root has a proposed connection with shining or warmth rather than a settled literal translation. These are different naming routes, not meanings assigned to every Lena. Credit: Wiktionary contributors, exact Lena, Magdalena, Magdalene, Helena, Yelena, Ἑλένη entries. Sources: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Lena&oldid=90211164; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Magdalena&oldid=92680160; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Magdalene&oldid=93472123; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Helena&oldid=93515540; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Yelena&oldid=92935334; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Ἑλένη&oldid=93426926. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized the documented name routes, distinguishing literal derivation, uncertainty and symbolic associations. No source audio, images or passages reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The exact Lena given-name etymology explicitly names Helena among its longer-name sources in Scandinavian, German and Russian traditions. This optional relationship stays separate from the Magdalena route. Credit: Wiktionary contributors, exact Lena, Helena entries. Sources: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Lena&oldid=90211164; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Helena&oldid=93515540. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized the documented name route or language-specific relationship. No source audio, images or quotations reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The source explicitly records Lena as a short form of Magdalena. This route stays separate from Helena, Yelena/Elena and unrelated place-name histories; it does not assign a longer name or pronunciation to every Lena. Credit: Wiktionary contributors, exact personal-name entries and the cited revisions. Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Lena&oldid=90211164. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized explicit and qualified short-form relationships; names retain separate popularity series and preferred pronunciation. No images or recordings reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The exact Lena given-name etymology explicitly names Yelena among its longer-name sources in Scandinavian, German and Russian traditions. This optional relationship stays separate from the Magdalena route. Credit: Wiktionary contributors, exact Lena, Yelena entries. Sources: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Lena&oldid=90211164; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Yelena&oldid=92935334. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized the documented name route or language-specific relationship. No source audio, images or quotations reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The English given-name etymology explicitly records these familiar-form traditions. Helena and Yelena connect to the Greek Helen family; Magdalena has a separate Magdala place-based history. Same-spelled rivers and towns have their own origins. Credit: Wiktionary contributors, exact Lena, Helena, Magdalena, Yelena entries. Sources: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Lena&oldid=90211164; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Helena&oldid=93515540; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Magdalena&oldid=92680160; https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Yelena&oldid=92935334. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized the documented name routes, distinguishing literal derivation, uncertainty and symbolic associations. No source audio, images or passages reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
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Attribution: Source: NISRA : Website: www.nisra.gov.uk
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: (C) Crown copyright. Data supplied by National Records of Scotland.
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: U.S. Social Security Administration
Credit: Statistics Canada, Table 17-10-0147-01, 1991–2025, released 23 September 2026.
License: Statistics Canada Open Licence
Adaptation: Adapted from Statistics Canada, First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators, Table 17-10-0147-01, reference years 1991–2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Credit: Central Statistics Office, Ireland, VSA50 and VSA60, updated 27 February 2026.
License: CC BY 4.0
Adaptation: Adapted by Rare Baby Names: joined the published count and rank indicators and matched unambiguous existing spellings. Source values retained.
Credit: Source : Insee, Fichier des prénoms, updated 16 July 2026.
License: Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab)
Adaptation: Adapted by Rare Baby Names: column names and sex codes mapped and unique case-only spellings matched to existing profiles. Published rounded counts and ranks retained.
