Ellen

//ˈɛl.ən// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Zeal. obsolete, uncountable
  2. 2
    Strength; courage. obsolete, uncountable
  3. 3
    Strength vouchsafed; comfort; grace. uncountable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A female given name from Ancient Greek. countable, uncountable

    "And how doth my cousin, your bedfellow? and your fairest daughter and mine, my god-daughter Ellen?"

  2. 2
    A river in Cumberland district, Cumbria, England, that flows into the Solway Firth at Maryport. countable, uncountable

Example

More examples

"Ellen likes to play tennis, too."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English elne, ellen, from Old English ellen (“zeal, strength, power, vigor, valor, courage, fortitude, strife, contention”), from Proto-West Germanic *alljan, from Proto-Germanic *aljaną (“zeal, power, courage”). Cognate with Middle High German ellen (“strength, manhood”), Middle Low German ellen (“strength, power, courage, vigor, bravery”), Icelandic elja (“endurance, energy”).

Etymology 2

Medieval English variant of Helen, from Ancient Greek Ἑλένη (Helénē); also used as a variant of Eleanor or a feminine counterpart to Elliot.

Related phrases

Port Ellen

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.