Jelena
A feminine name of Serbian origin meaning "bright one" or "shining light".
Name Census estimates that about 1,567 living Americans carry the first name Jelena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jelena today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jelena births was 2017 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jelena. 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 Jelena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 218,733 Americans
Peak year
2017
68 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,405
Tracked since 1959
Census
Jelena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,076 people with the first name Jelena, which placed it at #5,540 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
#5,540
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,076 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jelena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jelena is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.0%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Jelena 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 Jelena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.5% · 2,321
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 400
- Black or African American5.3% · 164
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 108
- Two or more races2.2% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 14
Popularity
Jelena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jelena from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 537 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jelena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jelena 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 Jelena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jelenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jelena, while New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jelena
The name Jelena originated from the Slavic languages, derived from the Greek name Helena, which itself comes from the Greek word "helene" meaning "bright" or "shining light." The earliest known use of the name dates back to the 4th century BCE, when it was mentioned in Greek mythology as the name of the beautiful Helen of Troy, whose abduction sparked the Trojan War.
In the Byzantine Empire, the name Helena was widely used among the nobility and royalty, and it later spread to the Slavic regions through the influence of Christianity. The Slavic variation, Jelena, became popular in countries such as Russia, Serbia, Croatia, and Bulgaria.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jelena comes from the 11th century, when Princess Jelena of Serbia, the wife of King Mihailo I, was known for her influential role in the spread of Christianity and the construction of churches and monasteries in medieval Serbia.
In the 12th century, Grand Princess Yelena Vsevolodovna of Vladimir-Suzdal was a prominent figure in Kievan Rus', known for her patronage of the arts and her support of the Orthodox Church. She was born in 1182 and died in 1243.
Another notable Jelena was Jelena Anjou, the Queen of Hungary from 1235 to 1238. She was born in 1236 and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Kingdom of Hungary during her brief reign.
In the 14th century, Jelena Gruba, a Serbian princess, was the wife of Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria. She was born in 1347 and was known for her involvement in the cultural and religious life of the Bulgarian Empire.
During the Renaissance period, Jelena Lukić-Orlović, a Serbian noblewoman and writer, was a prominent figure in the literary circles of her time. She was born in 1585 and is considered one of the earliest female writers in Serbian literature.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Jelena, a name that has transcended borders and cultures, carrying with it a rich history and cultural significance from its ancient Greek roots to its Slavic adaptations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jelena
People
Jelena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jelena as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jelena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jelena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,567 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jelena 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 218,733 US residents.
Is Jelena a common name?
We classify Jelena as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,607 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jelena most popular?
The single biggest year for Jelena was 2017, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jelena is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jelena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,076 people with the name Jelena, or 1.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,540 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 Jelena 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 Jelena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jelena appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,070 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 Jelena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jelena is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.0%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Jelena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jelena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.5% (2,321 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 Jelena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jelena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jelena 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 Jelena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jelena 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 Jelena 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 Jelena?
You can see how many people share the name Jelena on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.