girl's name
Elaina
eh-LAY-nuh
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 34,462
the United States
#267
2025 births
Elaina is a girl's name of Greek origin, a variant of Helen. Its meaning is often given as torch or shining light, but the Greek Helene has no secure derivation, and the light reading is a long-standing guess rather than an established translation.
- Elaina is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2024, when 1,256 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,819 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1941.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Elaina over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1940s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1940s | 192 |
| 1950s | 388 |
| 1960s | 954 |
| 1970s | 1,172 |
| 1980s | 2,002 |
| 1990s | 3,222 |
| 2000s | 6,420 |
| 2010s | 10,656 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 7,214 |
What Elaina means
Elaina is usually explained as torch or bright one, through the Greek helene. That connection to a word for torch is plausible and traditional, but Greek scholarship does not treat it as proven, and the name may predate Greek entirely.
Where Elaina comes from
Elaina belongs to the large family descending from the Greek Helene, the name of the woman whose abduction begins the Iliad. Its root is genuinely uncertain: the traditional link is to helene, a torch or basket, and a secondary one to helios, the sun, but neither is secure and some scholars suspect a pre-Greek origin. The name traveled through Latin as Helena and into the Romance languages as Elena, then into English as Elaine by way of the Arthurian romances, where Elaine is the mother of Galahad. Elaina is a modern American respelling of Elena and Elaine that first appears in our records in 1941.
Elaina in use
Elaina charts in all seven countries we track, wide reach for a modern respelling.
How popular is Elaina?
In 2025, Elaina was given to 1,176 babies in the United States, ranking #267 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Elaina is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Elaina is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Elaïna | Elaïna is a rare spelling of Elaina, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 30 times, mostly in France. | 30 |
Names that peaked alongside Elaina
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Elaina also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Elaina over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
3 nicknames for Elaina
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Elaina in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Elaina
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Elaina — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Elaina
What does the name Elaina mean?
It is usually given as torch or shining light, through the Greek Helene, but that derivation is traditional rather than proven.
What is the difference between Elaina and Elena?
Elena is the Italian and Spanish form of Helen. Elaina is a modern English respelling of it, and both are pronounced with the stress on the middle syllable.
How do you pronounce Elaina?
eh-LAY-nuh is the usual American pronunciation.
How popular is the name Elaina?
In 2025, Elaina was given to 1,176 babies in the United States, ranking #267 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Elaina a girl's or a boy's name?
Elaina is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Elaina?
Elaina has 3 syllables.
When was Elaina most popular?
Elaina peaked in 2024, when 1,256 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Elaina?
Elaina is usually shortened to Lainey, Ellie and Laina.
Is Elaina a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Elaina currently ranks #267 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.