Elena

Nice to see my middle name making its way up the charts in the States. This was my maternal great grandmother's name and I, sadly, only have one memory of her. But everyone always said she was a true steel magnolia and spunky, so I try to embody her spirit.
Another user said Uh-Lay-na was incorrect, but that's not true. This is a Romanization of a Greek name that spread across Europe and is pronounced many different ways because of language. People forget HOW big the U.S. and how each region formed its own culture and way to pronounce everything, including names, based off of their own descent and the "bastardization" of their mother tongue. Europe has had over 2,000 years of bloodshed to get to where it is today, so while they are the model of most societies now, they still had their growing pains. The USA is going thru it's know-it-all 20's phase, so give us time and we'll shape up!

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That turned into quite the rant! I, personally, prefer Eh-lay-na.

Helen means Greek Woman, from "ÅëëçíéêÜ" "ellinika" "elenika" "eleni" "elena".