Humanverse

Electa vs Elena

American parents have registered 108,117 Elenas since 1880, against 1,181 Electas. Elena is still ahead, with 4,842 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Electa against Elena, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Electa Elena

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Elena for 140 years and Electa for 6 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Electa Elena
Total US births 1,181108,117
Most in one year 404,842
Babies in 2025 under 54,842
Estimated living today 28099,000
Median age today 6713
Peak year 19182025
Best rank 1,184th girls42nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked42nd
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 1,181 / 0108,013 / 104

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Electas alive today are over 67; half the Elenas are over 13. That is 54 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Electa and Elena.