Elena

The Greek Helene is the source — the same root that launched a thousand ships and lit the Trojan plain — and across Romance and Slavic languages that original name softened and brightened into Elena. The traditional gloss links it to helios, "sun," or to a word for "torch," giving the name a quiet association with light. Elena has been queen of Spain, a Ferrante narrator, and a century of opera heroines. It now sits at rank 45 in the United States, buoyed especially by Spanish-speaking families. Three syllables with a lifting middle, gentle in every language that claims it. European, classic, and unfailingly warm.