Every Girl Name

Girl's name

Ellen

Say it EL-en

Greek origin from Eleanor, perhaps other 2 syllables

Sister names Middle names Deal sisters

Where Ellen is loved, common and rare

Common across Sweden and two more places. Rare in four German cities, Ireland, Norway and ten more places.

1 in 754 girls born in Ireland in 2025

Every place

In 19 of the 40 official lists, among them Sweden (40th), Ireland (166th) and Norway (206th).

Show all 19 placesShow less
PlaceRankGirlsShare
Sweden40th 2025218about 1 in 184
Ireland166th 2025281 in 754
Norway206th 2025211 in 1,038
Northern Ireland231st 202571 in 1,041
Berlin city528th 20235about 1 in 2,901
Scotland539th 202551 in 3,578
Switzerland541st 2025121 in 2,833
Poland583rd 202531 in 39,929
Cologne city630th 20231about 1 in 6,143
Austria672nd 202561 in 5,954
Italy884th 2024111 in 16,288
Ontario province932nd 202412about 1 in 4,539
The Netherlands988th 202510about 1 in 6,102
England and Wales1028th 2025331 in 7,675
France2317th 2025101 in 28,679
Finland11th 2025195rank only
Denmark17th 2025284rank only
Leipzig city107th 20255about 1 in 525
Bonn city382nd 20251about 1 in 3,015

Rare, below the listed names: Quebec, British Columbia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, New Zealand, Munich, Rostock, Spain, Catalonia, Hungary, Slovenia and Israel.

Not in a short top list, so no figure: Nova Scotia (top 21), Iceland (top 10), Estonia (top 25), Moscow (top 61), Turkey (top 30), Argentina (top 20) and Croatia (top 50).

Germany publishes no national statistics on first names. German figures here are city lists (Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Bonn, Leipzig, Rostock), never the country.

Sources: Skatteverket (Swedish Tax Agency) (Sweden); Central Statistics Office (CSO) (Ireland); Statistics Norway (SSB) (Norway); NISRA (Northern Ireland); BerlinOnline GmbH; Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten (LABO) / Standesämter (Berlin); National Records of Scotland (Scotland); Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS) / Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS) (Switzerland); Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji, rejestr PESEL (dane.gov.pl) (Poland); Stadt Köln, Standesamt (offenedaten-koeln.de) (Cologne); Statistik Austria (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1) (Austria); ISTAT, Contanomi (Italy); Ontario Office of the Registrar General (Ontario Data Catalogue) (Ontario); Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) (the Netherlands); Office for National Statistics (England and Wales); INSEE, Fichier des prénoms (édition 2025) (France); Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV) (Finland); Statistics Denmark (DST) (Denmark); Stadt Leipzig, Standesamt (opendata.leipzig.de) (Leipzig); Bundesstadt Bonn, Standesamt (opendata.bonn.de) (Bonn). How we count, and every source

About the name

Ellen started out as a medieval English form of Helen, from the Ancient Greek Helénē. It is also used as a form of Eleanor, whose meaning is given, with a hedge, as perhaps 'other', and sometimes as a feminine counterpart to Elliot.

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Two syllables, said EL-en, with the stress on the first. Ellie is a natural short form. Helen, Helena, Elena, Eleanor and Lena are relatives.

The name is strongest in the Nordic countries: a top-20 name in Finland and Denmark, and popular in Sweden. In the English-speaking world it is used in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Canadian records put its peak in the 1920s, and it is declining in several regions, so its main home is now Scandinavia.

Meaning, origin, pronunciation

Pronounced
EL-en, 2 syllables
Meaning
from Eleanor, perhaps other
Origin
Greek
Other spellings
Etymology

Medieval English variant of Helen, from Ancient Greek Ἑλένη (Helénē); also used as a variant of Eleanor or a feminine counterpart to Elliot.

From the Wiktionary entry, CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened.

Over time

Over five years: rising in 1 of 12 regions, falling in 7.

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Rank in each place since 1996; higher on the chart is more popular.

Sweden 26th 1998 to 40th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Ireland 27th 1996 to 166th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Norway 117th 1996 to 206th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Northern Ireland 28th 1997 to 231st 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Berlin 134th 2012 to 528th 2023
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Scotland 84th 1996 to 539th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025

Ten years of ranks

Her rank each year, English-speaking regions first. A blank means no published rank for her that year.

Region2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
England and Wales4754054585454946837859627361028
Scotland356247286447313396531342541539
Northern Ireland99103145157129143121135150231
Ireland64797886111101101156142166
Ontario91466211038325681259834987932
British Columbia661679515441667
South Australia273558
France2573256519892530198419572504242023892317
The Netherlands637892884586942616988
Austria41650675454173618761050644678672
Switzerland357282427773561408679514800541
Berlin227281184233299325301528
Cologne21324997449181266420630
Bonn174371357186239236168382
Leipzig19225718992405186215357107
Rostock136107202187
Norway179151158178157177203192221206
Sweden12171820212830373040
Denmark25232324212219192017
Finland12107511
Iceland99297
Italy11419571390884
Poland500437374603531648721714583

England and Wales, 1996 to 2025

YearRankGirlsper 100,000 girls
202510283313.0
20247365119.8
20239623614.0
20227854617.5
20216835620.4
20204948230.5
20195457426.4
20184589432.6
201740510836.1
20164759230.0
201538411938.6
201434813243.0
201336612440.2
201227417955.6
201125818958.8
201021623573.2
200927117856.8
200821024677.9
2007169323105.5
2006159334111.6
2005142359124.5
2004124406142.0
2003103464166.5
200298481179.9
200185608226.9
200087596218.2
199978688244.2
199878691239.0
199766866295.4
199663929313.9

Sources: Office for National Statistics (1996-2025), OGL v3.

Ontario and British Columbia since 1925

Half of the babies named Ellen in Ontario and British Columbia since 1925 were born in or after 1956. First recorded in 1925. Her peak year there: 1926, at 342.4 per 100,000 girls.

025050019401960198020002020025050019602000

Babies named Ellen per 100,000 girls born in Ontario and British Columbia, by five-year period. Her 1926 peak is averaged into its five-year period, so the line sits below it.

Sources: Ontario Office of the Registrar General (Ontario Data Catalogue) (1917-2024), OGL-Ontario; BC Vital Statistics Agency (BC Data Catalogue) (1924-2023), OGL-BC.

Sister names for Ellen

  1. 1 in 604 in Ireland

  2. 1 in 405 in Northern Ireland

  3. 1 in 347 in Northern Ireland

  4. 1 in 291 in Northern Ireland

  5. 1 in 1,789 in Scotland

  6. 1 in 649 in England and Wales

  7. 1 in 346 in Ireland

  8. 1 in 1,056 in Ireland

  9. 1 in 3,578 in Scotland

  10. 1 in 2,556 in Scotland

All sister names for EllenDeal more sisters

Middle names for Ellen

  1. 1 in 71 in Scotland

  2. 1 in 57 in Northern Ireland

  3. 1 in 78 in Northern Ireland

  4. 1 in 99 in Scotland

  5. 1 in 311 in Ireland

  6. 1 in 88 in Scotland

  7. 1 in 214 in Northern Ireland

  8. 1 in 162 in England and Wales

All middle names for EllenDeal more middle names

Same style as Ellen

Names whose popularity rose and fell with hers across regions and decades.

  1. 1 in 291 in Northern Ireland

  2. 1 in 515 in Ireland

  3. 1 in 1,243 in Ireland

  4. 1 in 1,174 in Ireland

  5. 1 in 660 in Ireland

  6. 1 in 2,556 in Scotland

  7. 1 in 346 in Ireland

  8. 1 in 640 in Ireland

Deal more in this style

Famous people named Ellen

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen DeGeneres, Ellen Burstyn, Ellen G. White, Ellen Pompeo, Ellen Barkin, Ellen Key and Ellen Terry.

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People: Wikidata (CC0), linked to Wikipedia in this page's language when an article exists.

Questions about Ellen

5 questions, on how popular she is, what it means, how to say it, whether she is rising and sister names.

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How popular is Ellen?

Her best rank is No. 11 in Finland in 2025. She is in the published lists of 19 of our 40 regions.

What does Ellen mean?

Ellen takes her meaning from Eleanor: "perhaps other", per Wiktionary.

How do you pronounce Ellen?

EL-en, with 2 syllables.

Is Ellen getting more popular?

Over five years: rising in 1 of 12 regions, falling in 7.

Which sister names go with Ellen?

The deck's top five sisters for Ellen: Margaret, Lydia, Nancy, Martha and Lillian. Each is scored on style, era, popularity and origin, with sound clashes flagged.

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