girl's name
Eline
ay-LEEN
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 13,530
France
#141
2025 births
Eline is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "torch" or "bright," a Dutch and Scandinavian form of Helen. It ranks 141st in France and is stable in our data, with records going back to 1900.
- Eline is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 2020, when 600 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 1,551 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Eline over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 60 |
| 1910s | 40 |
| 1920s | 55 |
| 1930s | 60 |
| 1940s | 50 |
| 1950s | 50 |
| 1960s | 35 |
| 1970s | 85 |
| 1980s | 380 |
| 1990s | 845 |
| 2000s | 2,650 |
| 2010s | 5,110 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,370 |
What Eline means
Eline inherits Helen's meaning, which has never been settled. Torch, from the Greek helene, is the traditional reading; a link to selene, the moon, has also been proposed, and neither can be demonstrated.
Where Eline comes from
Eline is a Dutch, Danish and Norwegian form of Helena, from the Greek Helene, whose derivation is genuinely unresolved — helene, a torch, is the usual gloss, and a connection to the moon has been argued since antiquity. Helen of Troy carried the name into every European language, and Saint Helena, mother of Constantine and the reputed finder of the True Cross, made it acceptable to Christians who might otherwise have avoided the woman the Iliad blames for a war. Eline's Dutch standing owes a great deal to Louis Couperus's 1889 novel Eline Vere, a study of a woman destroyed by her own nerves, which is still read in Dutch schools. In France the name reads as a modern short form rather than a Dutch import, and it sits alongside Éline, Elyne and Line as separate register entries.
Eline in use
Eline ranks 141st in France with about 575 births in 2025 and is stable in our data with a peak in 2020. Our records carry it from 1900. It is rare elsewhere — 2,843rd in England and Wales, 7,559th in the United States — and the accented Éline appears separately in French records, which splits the French total between two entries.
How popular is Eline?
In 2025, Eline was given to 380 babies in France, ranking #141 that year. It is a rare choice.
Where Eline is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Eline is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Éline | Éline is Eline written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #282. | 2,405 |
Names that peaked alongside Eline
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Eline also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Eline over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Eline 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.
- Breton
- Elena
- Catalan
- Helena
- Czech
- Helena
- Danish
- Elline
- Finnish
- Helena
- French
- Aline
- Greek
- Elena
- Hungarian
- Ellina
- Italian
- Elena
- Latvian
- Elena
- Polish
- Helena
- Romanian
- Elena
- Slovene
- Helena
- Spanish
- Elena
- Welsh
- Elin
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Elene
Sibling names for Eline
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Eline — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Eline
What does the name Eline mean?
It inherits Helen's meaning, which is unsettled. Torch is the traditional reading.
Is Eline a Dutch name?
It is Dutch, Danish and Norwegian in origin, though in France it reads as a modern short form.
Is Eline related to Elena?
Yes — both descend from the Greek Helene.
How popular is Eline?
141st in France.
Is Eline a girl's or a boy's name?
Eline is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Eline?
Eline has 2 syllables.
Is Eline a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Eline currently ranks #141 in France. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.