Elena is a popular female first name in Greek, Italian, Slavic, Baltic, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. It originates in the ancient Greek name Helen/Helene. The variation "Elena" dates back to the 12th century. Other common variants are Alena (German, Czech, Russian, Belarusian); Alenka (Slovenian); Alyona (Russian); Elene (Georgian); Helen (English); Hélène (French); Helena; Eliana (Portuguese); Ileana (Romanian and Spanish); Ilona (Hungarian, Finnish, and Latvian); Olena (Ukrainian); and Jelena/Yelena (Russian, Serbian).