Baby Name of the Day: Elaine

The baby name Elaine might be getting a boost for an unexpected reason. 

Thanks to Sarah for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME ELAINE MEAN?

We tend to consider the baby name Elaine a French version of Helen. 

Helen – and Helene, Helena, Ellen, and Elena – come with multiple meanings. 

In Greek mythology, Helen is the face that launched a thousand ships in the Trojan War. Homer’s Iliad remains widely read and well known, so it’s easy to argue that the first name Helen is among the most enduring of ancient choices.

Her name likely comes from a word meaning torch, though it might also related to the moon. (Think Selene.) Some tie it to words like sunshine or sunbeam – think helios – but that feels like a stretch.

Circa the year 300, the future Saint Helena converted to Christianity. In turn, she converted her son, the Emperor Constantine. This adds layers of meaning to the name.

It’s occasionally mixed up with Eleanor. 

Except that name of Old French origin has a very different story, one specific to Eleanor of Aquitaine. (She was the daughter of a woman named Aenor; Elia Aenor meant “the other Aenor” to distinguish daughter from mother.)

Sometimes other theories are suggested. Elain is the Welsh word for fawn.

ELAINE OF ASTOLAT

If Helen and Helena hold sway in the ancient world, the medieval era is Elaine’s time.

She appears in several Arthurian tales, including:

• The Lady of Shalott, immortalized in a Tennysonpoem.
• The mother of Sir Lancelot was named Elaine.
• Then there’s another Elaine that catched the eye of Lancelot. Together, they are the father and mother of Galahad.
• King Arthurhas a half-sister called Elaine.
• That half-sister passed the name on to her daughter, Elaine the Younger.

There are a few other mentions, too. 

Depending on which telling you’re reading, some of these characters might answer to slightly different names. 

But overall, there is no denying that the baby name Elaine comes to us from myth and legend.

20TH CENTURY ELAINES

And yet, the baby name Elaine isn’t exclusive to Arthurian romance. 

Other noteworthy uses dot the twentieth century, including:

• 1914’s The Exploits of Elaine, a tale of a young woman who hunts down the man who murdered her father. It was a follow-up to the successful Perils of Pauline.
• In the 1944 hit movie Arsenic and Old Lace, Cary Grant’scharacter is planning to elope with the girl next door. Only his sweetly murderous aunts keep getting in the way of his romance with the lovely Elaine Harper. The movie was based on an equally successful play, again, with the sweetheart answering to Elaine.
• JD Salinger published a short story titled “Elaine” in 1945. Salinger was quite the namer – don’t forget he used Esmedecades before StephenieMeyer. Salinger’s Elaine is growing up in the Bronx, but seems unfazed by the sordidness of her surroundings.
• We all know the famous scene from The Graduate between young Benand Mrs. Robinson. But have you seen the ending? Ben runs off with the Robinsons’ daughter, Elaine.
• English singer Elaine Paige was known for her work in theater. She originated the lead role in Evita in 1978, among many other triumphs.
• The Billy Joelsong “Big Shot” from 1978 referred to Elaine’s. It really was a restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, fashionable from the 1960s, a place where you might spot Mia Farrow or Joan Didion. The restaurant took its name from founder Elaine Kaufman. It closed after her death.
• American actressElaine Stritch was once a bartender at Elaine’s – just one stop on a long career that spanned stage, television, and movies.

Today’s generation of parents might think of Lady Elaine on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, or possibly Elaine from Seinfeld.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME ELAINE?

Idylls of the King was published between 1856 and 1885. A fresh wave of interest in King Arthur boosted the baby name Elaine, too.

By the 1920s, Elaine ranked in the US Top 100. It would remain there well into the 1950s, peaking around the year 1945.

That puts Elaine squarely in Baby Boomer name territory, a sister for Karen, Susan, and Diane. 

No surprise, then, that the baby name Elaine fell.

By the year 2000, it ranked a relatively chilly #576. As of 2010, the name ranked just #797.

But then something started to change. As of 2023, Elaine has rebounded to #381. 

What explains the resurgence?

We’ve also loved Helen names – but mostly the versions without the H. Elena entered the  US Top 100 in 2016. 

Other El- names, like Ellie and Ella, as well as Eloise and Eliana are trending. 

ENTER LAINEY

Arthurian legend coupled with the El- sound might be enough for some parents to cautiously reconsider the baby name Elaine.

But there’s another factor in play: Lainey.

Boosted by country music’s Lainey Wilson, and her appearance in culture-defining mega-hit Yellowstone, Lainey is the hottest name of our moment. 

It’s a successor to Sadie and Layla and Hailey. It picks up on the sounds in Delaney. And we’ve already been (sometimes) respelling Elena with the AI: Elaina. Or even Alaina.

But Lainey – as well as variations Laney and Lainie – feel just different enough to be fresh and new.  

And that makes the first name Elaine particularly attractive as a formal name for all those Lainey nicknames. 

Something parents tend to like now: there’s no ambiguity in spelling or pronunciation between Elaine and Lainey. 

After all, shorten Elena to Lena or Leni, and the pronunciation isn’t necessarily a long A sound.

ROMANTIC CLASSIC ON THE UPSWING

From the mother of Sir Galahad to a cowboy-booted country singer, the baby name Elaine has traveled far. 

Boosted by nickname-of-the-moment Lainey, Elaine has started a quiet comeback. It fits with Eloise and Josephine: pretty, feminine, slightly tailored, vaguely French, and rather traditional. 

What do you think of the baby name Elaine?

First published on December 5, 2011, this. post was revised on March 26, 2025.