Ilina
A feminine given name of Russian origin meaning "elf" or "fairy".
Name Census estimates that about 188 living Americans carry the first name Ilina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ilina today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilina births was 2021 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilina. 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 Ilina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
188
~ 1 in 1,823,161 Americans
Peak year
2021
13 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,798
Tracked since 1998
Census
Ilina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 269 people with the first name Ilina, which placed it at #31,704 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
#31,704
National first-name rank
People counted
269
269 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
34.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilina is Asian/Pacific Islander at 34.9%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Hispanic (26.8%). 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 Ilina 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 Ilina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander34.9% · 94
- White31.2% · 84
- Hispanic or Latino26.8% · 72
- Two or more races4.8% · 13
- Black or African American1.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Ilina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilina from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 94 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ilina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ilina 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 Ilina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilina
The name Ilina is of Slavic origin, with roots dating back to the early medieval period. It is derived from the Slavic word "ilina," which means "elm tree" or "elm grove." The elm tree held significant symbolic meaning in various Slavic cultures, often associated with strength, resilience, and fertility.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ilina can be found in ancient Russian chronicles from the 11th century. It was used as a feminine name among the nobility and commoners alike, reflecting the reverence for nature and the elm tree in particular.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Ilina of Tver (1286-1331) was a Russian princess and the wife of Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver. She played a crucial role in the political affairs of the Tver Principality during a turbulent period of Mongol invasions and struggles for power among Russian principalities.
Another historical figure bearing the name Ilina was Ilina Borisovna (1537-1605), a prominent Russian noblewoman and the wife of Prince Ivan Fedorovich Mstislavsky. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in various charitable endeavors.
In the 16th century, Ilina Grigoryevna (1541-1623) was a Russian aristocrat and the wife of Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky, who later became the Tsar of Russia from 1606 to 1610. Ilina played a significant role in the political affairs of the time, often serving as an advisor to her husband.
During the 17th century, Ilina Feodorovna (1610-1675) was a Russian noblewoman and the wife of Prince Yuri Alekseevich Dolgorukov. She was renowned for her philanthropic work and her dedication to the education of children from noble families.
Throughout its long history, the name Ilina has maintained its connection to the Slavic roots and the symbolic significance of the elm tree. While its popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries, it remains a name with a rich cultural heritage and a testament to the enduring influence of nature on the naming traditions of Slavic cultures.
People
Ilina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ilina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 188 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilina 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 1,823,161 US residents.
Is Ilina a common name?
We classify Ilina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilina most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilina was 2021, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilina is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 269 people with the name Ilina, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,704 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 Ilina 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 Ilina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ilina leans strongly female. 265 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Ilina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilina is Asian/Pacific Islander at 34.9%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Hispanic (26.8%). 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 Ilina most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ilina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.9% (94 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 Ilina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ilina 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 Ilina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilina 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 Ilina 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 named Ilina?
Find out how many Americans are named Ilina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.