Etymology

Lena

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Today it means: A female given name from Ancient Greek. Full definition →

Russian Лена ← Evenki Елюенэ ← Old Norse lein
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromlein
  2. Evenki · derived fromЕлюенэ“the Large River”
  3. Russian · borrowed fromЛена
  4. English todayLena

The female name is from the Scandinavian, German and Russian pet form of Helena, Magdalena and Yelena (also spelled Elena). The river in Yakutia is from Russian Лена (Lena), from Evenki Елюенэ (Jeljujenə, “the Large River”). Compare to Yakut Өлүөнэ (Ölüöne). (Norwegian river): Probably related to Old Norse leir (“clay”) (see the references). (Town in Toten): From Old Norse lein.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.