Ilona

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Илона in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and 4 more, אילונה in IL Israel, NO Norway, Ілона in UA Ukraine and Ილონა in GE Georgia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 11 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ilona is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• German given name221K records spelled Ilona18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Germany, Netherlands, United States, Hungary

  Languages: German, English, Western Frisian

  Also written Ìlona, Ilôna, Iloná, Ilonã, Ílóna

• French given name98K records spelled Ilona16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Brazil, Spain, United States

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Ilonä, Ilôna, Ilönã, Įlona, Ilònà

• Turkish given name598 records spelled Ilona5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Russia

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen

  Also written Илона

66 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Ilona is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Hungarian form of Helen, now also sometimes used in the English-speaking world.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In Hungarian, a female given name from Ancient Greek, equivalent to English Helen

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Ilona är en ungersk form av → Helena som används i flera länder, bland annat Finland, där det associeras till finskans ilo ’glädje’.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In French, Forme hongroise d’Hélène; d’origine grecque, associée à « éclat du soleil ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Hongrois, variante d'Helene; origine grecque.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 116 years between 1909–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ilona Fehérb. 1901HUIsraeli musician (1901–1988)
• Ilona Elekb. 1907HUHungarian fencer (1907-1988)
• Ilona Novákb. 1925HUHungarian swimmer (1925–2019)
• Archduchess Ilona of Austriab. 1927HUAustrian Imperial and Royal (1927–2011)
• Ilona Gusenbauerb. 1947ATAustrian high jumper
• Ilona Stallerb. 1951HUHungarian-born Italian pornographic actress, singer and politician
• Ilona Slupianekb. 1956DEEast German shot putter
• Ilona Bronevitskayab. 1961RUSoviet and Russian actress and singer
• Katri Kulmunib. 1987FInot in their usual nameFinnish politician
• Ilona Maherb. 1996USAmerican rugby player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 741 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ilona?

We estimate roughly 276 thousand people bear Ilona (counting its spellings and scripts) across 16 countries in our records.

In which country does Ilona have the most bearers?

Ilona is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled илона.

Where is Ilona most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Ilona is densest in Hungary — about 1 in 82 people — even though Russia holds more of our records for it.

How common is Ilona compared with other names?

In Russia, Ilona is the 220th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Ilona a male or female name?

Ilona is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ilona mean?

Recorded meaning: Greek: “bright”; Hungarian: “beautiful.”