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in reply to a message by Mike C
Elna
It's a Swedish short form of Helena. It also ranks in the popularity chart for the US between 1881 - 1941 (my guess would be that it was popular because of the large Scandinavian immigration since it was also very popular in Sweden in the late 1800s and early 1900s)
The sleep of reason brings forth monsters.
It's a Swedish short form of Helena. It also ranks in the popularity chart for the US between 1881 - 1941 (my guess would be that it was popular because of the large Scandinavian immigration since it was also very popular in Sweden in the late 1800s and early 1900s)
The sleep of reason brings forth monsters.
1
Replies
More information about Elna
Elna is also a Catalan name. Originally, in the Middle Ages, it was a short form of Helena, but since 1990s it has been used as independent name (coinciding with the time when the Spanish naming law was reformed and originally nicknames were progressively acceptated as legal names).
It is growing up in popularity because it matches four different trends: Catalan small or medium place names (Elna, town near Perpignan), nicknames, Medieval names and names that have not a perfect equivalence in Spanish.
Elna is also a Catalan name. Originally, in the Middle Ages, it was a short form of Helena, but since 1990s it has been used as independent name (coinciding with the time when the Spanish naming law was reformed and originally nicknames were progressively acceptated as legal names).
It is growing up in popularity because it matches four different trends: Catalan small or medium place names (Elna, town near Perpignan), nicknames, Medieval names and names that have not a perfect equivalence in Spanish.
1
I've known it used here in South Africa, by Afrikaans-speaking parents, as a merger of El(izabeth) and (Hele)na. Traditionally, children were given names to honour their relatives, and these could be very long and old-fashioned, so blended names like Elna, Louette, Runine (honest!) etc come in useful.
1