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In Russia, people understand that Elena and Yelena are close variations of the same name in the same way as English speakers will slip between using "Charles" with "Charlie" or "Chuck", "Anthony" with "Tony", "William" with "Will", Willie", "Bill" and/or "Billy".
Elena is a popular Greek, Slavic, Spanish, Romanian and Italian version of the Greek name Helen (Eleni), meaning "light" and beautiful.
The name has many variants in languages and countries across the world.
Ænor (Provençal)
Aileen (Scottish)
Aili (Estonian), (Finnish)
Alena (Czech), German, Slovakian, (Spanish)
Alenka (Slovenian)
Aliénor (Occitan)
Alyena (Russian)
Alyiona (Russian)
Alyona (Russian)
Ealanor (Gaelic)
Eileanóra (Irish)
Eileen (Irish)
Eilidh (Scottish Gaelic)
Eilonóra (Gaelic)
Elaine (English)
Elea (English)
Eleanor (English)
Eleanora (English)
Eleanore (English)
Eleonóra (Hungarian)
Elen (Welsh)
Elena (Bulgarian), (Greek), (Italian), (Lithuanian), (Macedonian), Manx, (Portuguese), (Romanian), (Russian), (Spanish)
Eleni (Greek)
Elenie (Georgian), (Greek)
Elenka (Czech)
Élénora (French)
Elenora (English)
Eleonoora (Finnish)
Eleonor (English)
Eleonora (German), (Italian), (Polish)
Eléonore (French)
Eleonore (German)
Eli (Norwegian)
Eliana (Portuguese)
Éliane (French)
Eliina (Finnish)
Elin (Welsh)
Elina (Russian), (Finnish)
Eline (Dutch)
Elinor (English)
Elinore (French)
Eliora (Hebrew)
Ella (English), (Finnish)
Elle (English)
Ellen (Danish), (Dutch), (English)
Elli (Finnish)
Ellie (English)
Ellin (Welsh)
Ellinor (Danish), (Finnish), (Norwegian), (Swedish)
Elly (English)
Elna (Danish), (Finnish)
Elnora (English)
Elya (Russian)
Ena (Irish)
Galena (Ukrainian)
Galina (Russian)
Galya (Russian)
Haliana (Polish)
Halina (Polish), (Russian)
Heleen (Dutch)
Heleena (Finnish)
Heleentje (Dutch)
Helena (Czech), (Danish), (Dutch), (English), (Estonian), (Finnish) (German), (Greek), (Latvian), (Norwegian), (Portuguese), (Slovenian), (Swedish)
Hélène (French)
Helene (Danish), (Finnish), (German) (Norwegian), (Swedish)
Helenka (Hungarian)
Heli (Finnish)
Hellae (Greek)
Hellais (Greek)
Hellen (English)
Ileana (Romanian), (Spanish)
Ili (Hungarian)
Iliana (Spanish)
Ilka (Hungarian)
Ilona (Finnish), (Hungarian), (Latvian)
Ilonka (Hungarian)
Iluska (Hungarian)
Jelena (Croatian), (Latvian), (Russian), (Serbian)
Jelka (Croatian), (Slovenian)
Laina (Finnish)
Lainey (English)
Laney (English)
Léan (Irish)
Léana (Irish)
Leanora (English)
Leena (Estonian), (Finnish)
Lele (German)
Lelya (Russian)
Lena (Danish), (English), (Finnish), (German), (Greek), (Norwegian), (Russian), (Swedish)
Lenchen (German)
Lenci (Hungarian)
Lene (Danish), (German), (Norwegian)
Leni (German)
Lenka (Slovenian)
Lenora (English)
Lenore (English)
Lenuta (Romanian)
Leonor (Portuguese), (Spanish)
Leonora (Dutch), (Italian), (Russian), (Spanish)
Leonore (German)
Liina (Finnish)
Lina (Italian)
Line (Dutch)
Liolya (Russian)
Lora (English), Italian
Lore (German)
Nel (Dutch)
Nelda (English)
Nélida (Spanish)
Nell (English)
Nelle (English)
Nelli (Russian), (Finnish, Hungarian)
Nellie (English)
Nelly (English)
Nelya (Russian)
Nóirín (Irish)
Noora (Finnish)
Nora (Basque), (English), (Irish), (Italian)
Norah (English), (Irish)
Noreen (English), (Irish)
Norina (Italian)
Nóra (Hungarian)
Olena (Ukrainian)
Olenka (Ukrainian)
Onella (Hungarian)
Yelena (Russian)
Yelina (Russian)