Lena
Meaning and origin
Short form of Magdalena and Helena. First recorded in Sweden in 1481.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Lena (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Lena has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2015. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | 14 |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | 11 |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | 15 |
| 2004 | 8 |
| 2005 | 13 |
| 2006 | 13 |
| 2007 | 17 |
| 2008 | 13 |
| 2009 | 25 |
| 2010 | 25 |
| 2011 | 26 |
| 2012 | 31 |
| 2013 | 30 |
| 2014 | 37 |
| 2015 | 48 |
| 2016 | 43 |
| 2017 | 33 |
| 2018 | 30 |
| 2019 | 38 |
| 2020 | 29 |
| 2021 | 40 |
| 2022 | 26 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 59,231 |
| 2000 | 59,001 |
| 2001 | 58,848 |
| 2002 | 58,691 |
| 2003 | 58,520 |
| 2004 | 58,298 |
| 2005 | 58,109 |
| 2006 | 57,967 |
| 2007 | 57,855 |
| 2008 | 57,737 |
| 2009 | 57,623 |
| 2010 | 57,501 |
| 2011 | 57,340 |
| 2012 | 57,195 |
| 2013 | 57,018 |
| 2014 | 56,856 |
| 2015 | 56,723 |
| 2016 | 56,511 |
| 2017 | 56,244 |
| 2018 | 55,922 |
| 2019 | 55,601 |
| 2020 | 55,301 |
Lena in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Lena.Hi! My name is Lena.
- Lena bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Lena lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Vet du om Lena kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Lena is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Lenas mamma är lärare.Lena's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Lenas mamma is Lena's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Lena
How do you pronounce Lena in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Lena from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Lena mean?
Short form of Magdalena and Helena. First recorded in Sweden in 1481.
How popular is Lena in Sweden?
26 babies were named Lena in 2022. In 2020, 55,301 people in Sweden had Lena as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2015 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.