Jelena, also written Yelena and Elena, is a Slavic

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

. The name is a

Slavicized Slavicisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or Slavicization, is the acculturation of something non-Slavic into a Slavs, Slavic culture, cuisine, region, or nation. The process can either be v ...

form of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

name Helena, and it signifies the word ‘Greek’ (Ελληνικά) meaning bright, light. Helena comes from Helios meaning shining and sunlight.

Diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

s of the name include Jelica, Jelka, Jele, Jela, Lena, Lenochka, Jeca, and Lenka.

Notable people

Nobility

* Saint Jelena of Serbia, Serbian Queen (d. 1314) * Jelena of Bulgaria, Empress consort of Serbia (d. 1374) * Jelena Petrović Njegoš, Montenegrin princess and Queen of Italy * Jelena of Serbia, many Serbian consorts * Jelena Urošević Vukanović, Queen consort of Hungary * Jelena Zrinski, Princess Consort of Transylvania and Croatian noblewoman

Other people

* Jelena Agbaba, Serbian handball player *

Elena Berezhnaya Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya (, , born 11 October 1977) is a Russian former pair skater. With partner Anton Sikharulidze, she is the 1998 and 1999 World champion, 1998 Olympic silver medalist and 2002 Olympic champion. Berezhnaya first com ...

, Russian figure skater * Jelena Blagojević, Serbian volleyball player *

Yelena Bonner Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (; 15 February 1923 – 18 June 2011) was a human rights activist in the former Soviet Union and wife of the physicist Andrei Sakharov. During her decades as a dissident, Bonner was noted for her characteristic blunt h ...

, Russian writer *

Jelena Brooks Jelena Brooks (; sr-cyr, Јелена Брукс, ; born 28 April 1989) is a Serbian professional women's basketball player for Sopron Basket. Standing at , she plays at the power forward position. She also represents the Serbian national ba ...

(Milovanović), Serbian basketball player *

Jelena Dokić Jelena Dokic (; ; born 12 April 1983) is an Australian tennis commentator, sports analyst, former professional player and public speaker. Her highest ranking as a tennis player was world No. 4, in August 2002. She won WTA Tour events on all su ...

, Australian tennis player of Croatian and Serbian origin * Jelena Glebova, Estonian figure skater *Jelena 'Gigi' Hadid, American model *

Jelena Grubišić Jelena Grubišić (born 20 January 1987) is a retired Croatian handballer who played for the Croatia national team. She was given the award of ''Cetățean de onoare'' (" Honorary Citizen") of the city of Bucharest in 2016. She was inducted i ...

, Croatian handball player *

Jelena Janković Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the W ...

, Serbian tennis player *

Jelena Jovanova Jelena Jovanova Perić (; born 21 October 1984) is a Macedonian actress. Biography Jelena Jovanova was born in SR Bosnia and Herzegovina to a Macedonian father from Štip and a Bosnian Serb mother from Prijedor, was raised in Macedonia, then ...

, Macedonian actress *

Jelena Karleuša Jelena Karleuša ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Карлеуша; born 17 August 1978) is a Serbian singer and media personality. Born and raised in Belgrade, she began her music career by releasing her debut album ''Ogledalce'' (1995) at the age of 16 ...

, Serbian singer *

Jelena Kovacevic Jelena, also written Yelena and Elena, is a Slavic given name. The name is a Slavicized form of the Greek name Helena, and it signifies the word ‘Greek’ (Ελληνικά) meaning bright, light. Helena comes from Helios meaning shining and ...

, Serbian-American engineering professor and dean *

Jelena Lavko Jelena Lavko ( Živković; born 6 July 1991) is a Serbian handball player. She was also capped several times for the Serbian national team and participated at the 2010 European Championship and 2013 World Championship. Achievements * 2013 Wo ...

, Serbian handball player *

Jelena Likhovtseva Jelena, also written Yelena and Elena, is a Slavic given name. The name is a Slavicized form of the Greek name Helena, and it signifies the word ‘Greek’ (Ελληνικά) meaning bright, light. Helena comes from Helios meaning shining and ...

, Russian tennis player *

Jelena McWilliams Jelena McWilliams (; born July 29, 1973) is a Serbian-American business executive and a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She was nominated to the position and to the FDIC Board of Directors by President Donald Trump ...

(Obrenic), Chairman of the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

(June 5, 2018) *

Jelena Milesic Jelena, also written Yelena and Elena, is a Slavic given name. The name is a Slavicized form of the Greek name Helena, and it signifies the word ‘Greek’ (Ελληνικά) meaning bright, light. Helena comes from Helios meaning shining and ...

, Artist * Jelena Mrdjenovich, Serbian-Canadian boxer * Jelena Nikolić, Serbian volleyball player * Jelena Nurgalieva, Russian marathon runner *

Jeļena Ostapenko Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 5 in singles and No. 4 in doubles by the WTA. Ostapenko has won nine WTA Tour-level singles and eleven doubles tit ...

, Latvian tennis player * Jelena Perepelkina, Russian wrestler * Jelena Porsanger (born 1967), Russian Sami ethnographer and university rector * Jeļena Prokopčuka, Latvian long-distance runner * Yelena Romanova, Russian long-distance runner * Jelena Rozga, Croatian singer *

Jelena Tripolski Jelena Tripolski (; also "Yelena"; born November 18, 1967) is an Israeli former Olympic sport shooter. She is Jewish, immigrated to Israel, and is an electronic engineer. Shooting career Tripolski competed for Israel at the 1992 Summer Olympics i ...

(born 1967), Israeli Olympic sport shooter *

Jelena Trivić Jelena Trivić (; born 8 August 1983) is a Bosnian Serb politician in Republic of Srpska and university professor who served as member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska from 2018 to 2022. She was vice president of the Party of Democra ...

, Serbian politician from Bosnia and Herzegovina * Elena Valova, Russian figure skater *

Elena Vesnina Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. Vesnina is a four-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam champion, h ...

, Russian tennis player

Related names

Helen, Helena,

Yelena Yelena or Jelena is a feminine given name. It is the Russian form of Helen, written Елена in Russian. Notable people called Yelena * Yelena Afanasyeva (athlete) (born 1967), former Russian athlete who competed in the 800 metres * Yelen ...

, Elena, Elaine,

Ellen Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth (given name), Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena, and Helen (given name), Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: * Elle ...

, Alyona, Alyena, Aliena, Olyena, Alena

Notable people

Nobility

Other people

Related names

See also