Eleni is the Ge'ez form of Helen — from Greek Hēlēnē ("torch, light"). Empress Eleni of Ethiopia (c. 1431-1522) was the longest-lived and most influential Ethiopian regent of the medieval period. Originally a Muslim princess of Hadiya who married Emperor Zara Yaqob and converted to Christianity, she served as queen consort, queen mother, and effective regent for 75 years through several emperors. She initiated Ethiopia's first diplomatic mission to Portugal in 1508 — beginning Ethiopia's first European alliance.
Featured in the Royal Chronicles of Ethiopia.
Eleni does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Eleni reduce to 9, The Giver. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.