Illeana
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "sun ray" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 373 living Americans carry the first name Illeana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Illeana today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Illeana births was 2005 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Illeana. 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 Illeana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
373
~ 1 in 918,912 Americans
Peak year
2005
34 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,092
Tracked since 1927
Census
Illeana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 440 people with the first name Illeana, which placed it at #22,573 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
#22,573
National first-name rank
People counted
440
440 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Illeana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Illeana is Hispanic at 65.5%. The next largest groups are White (18.6%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Illeana 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 Illeana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino65.5% · 288
- White18.6% · 82
- Black or African American5.9% · 26
- Two or more races5.7% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 7
Popularity
Illeana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Illeana from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 195 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Illeana 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 Illeana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Illeanas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Illeana
The name Illeana is a variant of the Spanish name Ileana, which itself is derived from the Greek name Helene, meaning "bright one" or "shining light." The name has its origins in Greek mythology, where Helene was the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda, whose abduction by Paris sparked the Trojan War.
In the Byzantine Empire, the name Ileana gained popularity and was frequently bestowed upon princesses and noblewomen. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Saint Ileana of Serbia, a 13th-century Serbian princess who later became a nun and was renowned for her piety and charitable works.
The name Illeana is also found in various Eastern European cultures, particularly in Romania, where it is a traditional name with several notable bearers throughout history. One of the most famous was Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938), born Princess Marie of Edinburgh, who was known as Ileana to her family and friends.
In Italy, the variant Illeana has been used since the Middle Ages, with one of the earliest recorded instances being Illeana Ruffini (1255-1310), a nun from Siena who was renowned for her mystical visions and writings. Another notable Italian bearer of the name was Illeana Valeri (1896-1993), a renowned actress and dancer of the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, the name Illeana appears in the works of several writers, including the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who featured a character named Illeana in his novel "War and Peace." Additionally, the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca used the name Illeana in his poetry, symbolizing the beauty and resilience of women.
Other notable historical figures with the name Illeana include Illeana Stanca-Ionescu (1909-1997), a Romanian actress and director who played a significant role in the development of modern Romanian theater, and Illeana Cotrubaș (born 1939), a renowned Romanian opera singer who achieved international acclaim for her performances in the works of Verdi, Puccini, and Strauss.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Illeana
People
Illeana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Illeana 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
Illeana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Illeana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 373 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Illeana 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 918,912 US residents.
Is Illeana a common name?
We classify Illeana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 384 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Illeana most popular?
The single biggest year for Illeana was 2005, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Illeana is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Illeana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 440 people with the name Illeana, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,573 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 Illeana 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 Illeana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Illeana appears almost entirely female. Of the 431 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Illeana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Illeana is Hispanic at 65.5%. The next largest groups are White (18.6%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Illeana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Illeana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (288 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 Illeana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Illeana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Illeana 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 Illeana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Illeana 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 Illeana 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 Illeana?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.