Ellen
Featured in baby name books
Ellen began as a form of Helen, meaning “light” or “shining,” and has long been a name in its own right. Some find Ellen too plain, but it has the quiet appeal of a simple staple that subtle-minded parents appreciate. Well-known Ellens include Ellen DeGeneres, Ellen Barkin, and Ellen Ripley, the officer who defeats the creature in Alien. Chemist Ellen Swallow Richards pioneered improvements in water and air quality and exposed dangerous school conditions in Massachusetts.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Girls, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names, Sci-Fi Baby Names, Badass Baby Names
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Usage of Ellen in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Ellen against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Ellen is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Ellen in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 230 girls were named Ellen, making it the #1062 girls' name in the US. Since 1880, 275,284 girls have been named Ellen, with the most (5,945) in 1951. It is most common, relative to births, in Kansas, Indiana and Washington.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Ellen in other languages
- Helena Catalan, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, Slovenian
- Elena Dutch, Italian, Latvian, Romanian, Spanish
- Lena Dutch, English, German, Italian, Polish
- Helen Dutch, English, Swedish
- Helene Danish, Dutch, Norwegian
- Елена Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian
- Elle Dutch, Estonian
- Hélène Dutch, French
- Lene Danish, Norwegian
- Alena Czech
- Elen Welsh
- Ellin English
- Ellina Hungarian
- Leena Finnish
- Lenka Czech
- Lenuța Romanian
- Olena English
- Јелена Serbian
Ellen name days
- May 21 Norway
- August 18 Sweden
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Storms named Ellen
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Ellen, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typhoon Ellen (Category 1) | 1986 | Western Pacific | 148 km/h |
| Hurricane Ellen (Category 4) | 1983 | Eastern Pacific | 232 km/h |
| Typhoon Ellen (Category 3) | 1980 | Western Pacific | 204 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ellen | 1976 | Western Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Typhoon Ellen (Category 3) | 1973 | Western Pacific | 194 km/h |
| Hurricane Ellen (Category 3) | 1973 | North Atlantic | 185 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ellen | 1970 | Western Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Typhoon Ellen (Category 1) | 1967 | Western Pacific | 148 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ellen | 1964 | Western Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Typhoon Ellen (Category 4) | 1961 | Western Pacific | 241 km/h |
…and 3 earlier storms.
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Ellen
There are 28 towns and villages with Ellen in their name, in 6 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 22🇬🇧 United Kingdom 2🇨🇦 Canada 1🇩🇪 Germany 1🇮🇪 Ireland 1🇯🇲 Jamaica 1
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Port Ellen | Scotland, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 830 | Map |
| Glen Ellen | California, 🇺🇸 United States | 784 | Map |
| Belle Ellen | Alabama, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ellen | North Rhine-Westphalia, 🇩🇪 Germany | – | Map |
| Ellen | Georgia, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ellen | Kentucky, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ellen | Texas, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ellen Gowan | Pennsylvania, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ellen Place | Louisiana, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ellen Street | Manchester, 🇯🇲 Jamaica | – | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Ellen
There are 36 lakes and reservoirs with Ellen in their name, in 3 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 21🇨🇦 Canada 10🇦🇺 Australia 5
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Ellen Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Ellen Lake | British Columbia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Ellen Lake | British Columbia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Ellen Lake | British Columbia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Ellen Lake | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Ellen Lake | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Ellen Lake | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Ellen Lake | Wisconsin, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lac Ellen | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ellen | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Ellen songs
14 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Ellen in their title. The best known:
- Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane
- Ellen's Gesang n°I – Franz Schubert (1826)
- Håp av Ellen Nikolaysen og Anne-Karine Strøm – Ellen Nikolaysen
- Poor Ellen Smith
- Søster Ellen
- The Mary Ellen Carter – Stan Rogers (1979)
- ELLEN
- Ellen – Robert E. Stansfield-Cudworth (2017)
- Ellen / Ingela – Robert Broberg (1969)
- Ellen's Exploration – John Ottman
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Ellen
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Ellen.
Ellen Andrea Wang
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Burka
Ellen Burstyn
See more...
Fictional characters named Ellen
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Ellen as a pet name
FurryName has found 17 dogs named Ellen in public pet registers, making it the #7,047 dog name there. Most of them are registered in New York City (10), Seattle (1), Toronto (1). Ellen as a dog name →
Ellen products
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Ellen keychain
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Ellen pillow
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