Ellen

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Locally spelled Elen in BR Brazil and Էլեն in AM Armenia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 21 languages in the etymology graph.

Other names spelled this way◐(inferred from the name graph)

Ellen is also recorded as 9 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name37 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Philippines, Argentina

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Elle, Éllen, Èllen, Ëlle, Ellén

• a separate name4 spellings in the group

  Also written Èllen, Ėllen, Éllen

• Estonian given name8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Estonia, Finland, Sweden

  Languages: Estonian, Finnish

  Also written Elle, Éllé, Ĕlle, Êllë, Èlle

• French given name47 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Elle, Ëlle, 'Elle, Ellè, Élle

• Portuguese given name117 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Russia, United States, Paraguay

  Languages: Portuguese, Russian, Spanish

  Also written Eliane, Элен, Елен, Elen, Helene

• Swahili given name7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, South Africa, United Kingdom, Kenya

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written Elle, Ellę, Élle, Ëlle

• Hindi given name16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, South Africa

  Languages: Hindi, Sinhala, Bangla

  Also written Elena, Elen, Illin, এলেন, Ilina

• Indonesian given name16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Philippines, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Elle, 'Ellen, Èllé, Ellé, Ĕllê

• Italian given name6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands

  Also written Elle, Éllen, Ellë, Ellé, Ellê

70 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Ellen is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A form of Helen; fashionable in Ireland from the mid-19th century, then declined after 1950.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, Old English; diminutive of Eleanor, Elizabeth, or Helen; also from Old French form of Helen

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• A form of Helen which became fashionable in Ireland round about the middle of the nineteenth century, but between 1950 and 1970 it fell rapidly from favour.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, Zeal.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Ellen är en ursprunglig norsk-dansk och även engelsk form av → Helena. Namnet har varit mycket populärt under de senaste årtiondena. En känd namnbärare var den svenska författaren och kvinnosakskvinnan Ellen Key (1849–1926). I den rikssvenska almanackan 18 augusti och i den finlandssvenska 10 februari.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Ellen Burstynb. 1932USAmerican actress
• Ellen Johnson Sirleafb. 1938LR24th president of Liberia
• Jill Steinb. 1950USnot in their usual nameAmerican politician and physician (born 1950)
• Alex Salmondb. 1954GBnot in their usual nameAlba Party leader and First Minister of Scotland 2007–2014 (1954–2024)
• Ellen DeGeneresb. 1958USAmerican comedian, television host, actress, and writer (born 1958)
• Naomi Wattsb. 1968GBnot in their usual nameEnglish actress (born 1968)
• Mark Zuckerbergb. 1984USnot in their usual nameAmerican Internet entrepreneur
• Elliot Pageb. 1987CAnot in their usual nameCanadian actor
• Brooke Hoganb. 1988USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer and television personality
• Jessie Jb. 1988GBnot in their usual nameEnglish singer (born 1988)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Ellen mean, and where does it come from?

English form of Helen, from Greek "bright one"; first attested Elena ostiaria 1204 P (Somerset). Recorded by A Dictionary of English Surnames.

What are other forms of the name Ellen?

In the etymology graph, Elena, Helen and Elaine are forms of the same name in other languages; Ellie is a recorded short or pet form.

Is Ellen a male or female name?

Ellen is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

In which country does Ellen have the most bearers?

Mondonomo estimates about 1.0 million people named Ellen in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled ellen.

Where is Ellen most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Ellen is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 338 people — even though China holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Ellen?

In the United States, the national register counted 173,112 people named Ellen in 2020, about 1 in 1.9 thousand residents.

How common is Ellen compared with other names?

In the Netherlands, Ellen is the 61st most common given name of 101,916 given names recorded there.