Eleni
A feminine Greek name meaning "bright one" or "shining light".
Name Census estimates that about 6,334 living Americans carry the first name Eleni. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Eleni today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eleni births was 2024 (255 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eleni. 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 Eleni with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.3K
~ 1 in 54,113 Americans
Peak year
2024
255 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,003
Tracked since 1946
Census
Eleni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,701 people with the first name Eleni, which placed it at #2,934 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
#2,934
National first-name rank
People counted
7.7K
7,701 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eleni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eleni is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.3%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Eleni 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 Eleni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.1% · 6,165
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 790
- Black or African American5.1% · 391
- Two or more races2.8% · 214
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 134
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 7
Popularity
Eleni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eleni from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,420 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Eleni remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eleni 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 Eleni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elenis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Eleni, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 195 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eleni
The name Eleni is of Greek origin and has a long and rich history dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "Helene," which means "bright" or "shining one." The name is a feminine form of the Greek name "Helenos," which was the name of a celebrated seer in Greek mythology.
In ancient Greek literature, the name Eleni is associated with the famous character Helen of Troy, whose abduction by Paris of Troy was the catalyst for the Trojan War. The story of Helen of Troy is recounted in Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which date back to the 8th century BC.
The name Eleni has been popular throughout Greek history, and there have been several notable figures who bore this name. One of the earliest recorded examples is Eleni, the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, who lived in the 12th century AD.
Another famous Eleni was Eleni Glykatzi-Arveleri, a Greek poet and feminist who lived from 1874 to 1957. She was a prominent figure in the Greek literary scene and was known for her works that explored themes of love, nature, and the struggles of women.
In the realm of politics, Eleni Tsoukala was a Greek politician who served as a member of the Hellenic Parliament from 1996 to 2004. She was an advocate for women's rights and played a significant role in promoting gender equality in Greece.
One of the most famous Elenis in modern times was Eleni Karaindrou, a Greek composer and musician born in 1939. She is best known for her collaborations with film director Theo Angelopoulos and has composed scores for numerous award-winning films.
Another notable Eleni was Eleni Bakopanos, a Greek athlete who competed in the high jump event at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics. She won a bronze medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, becoming the first Greek woman to win an Olympic medal in athletics.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have borne the name Eleni throughout history, highlighting the enduring popularity and significance of this name in Greek culture and beyond.
People
Eleni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eleni 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
Eleni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eleni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,334 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eleni 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 54,113 US residents.
Is Eleni a common name?
We classify Eleni as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,579 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eleni most popular?
The single biggest year for Eleni was 2024, when 255 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eleni is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eleni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,701 people with the name Eleni, or 2.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,934 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 Eleni 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 Eleni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eleni appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,699 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Eleni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eleni is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.3%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Eleni most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eleni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.1% (6,165 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 Eleni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eleni a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Eleni 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 Eleni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eleni 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 Eleni 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 are called Eleni?
You can see how many people have the name Eleni on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.