Laney

  • [ LAYN-ee ]
  • English
Diminutive of ELAINE.

ELAINE   female   English, Arthurian Romance
From an Old French form of HELEN. It appears in Arthurian legend; in Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation 'Le Morte d'Arthur' Elaine was the daughter of Pelleas, the lover of Lancelot, and the mother of Galahad. It was not commonly used as an English given name until after the appearance of Tennyson's Arthurian epic 'Idylls of the King' (1859).
HELEN   female   English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Greek Mythology (Anglicized)
English form of the Greek ‘Ελενη (Helene), probably from Greek ‘ελενη (helene) "torch" or "corposant", or possibly related to σεληνη (selene) "moon". In Greek mythology Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, whose kidnapping by Paris was the cause of the Trojan War. The name was also borne by the 4th-century Saint Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, who supposedly found the True Cross during a trip to Jerusalem.

The name was originally used among early Christians in honour of the saint, as opposed to the classical character. In England it was commonly spelled Ellen during the Middle Ages, and the spelling Helen was not regularly used until after the Renaissance. A famous bearer was Helen Keller (1880-1968), an American author and lecturer who was both blind and deaf.
FULL FORMS
ENGLISH: Elaina, Elaine, Ellen, Helen, Helena, Hellen
EQUIVALENTS
AFRICAN AMERICAN: Shelena
ANCIENT GREEK: Helena, Helene
ARTHURIAN ROMANCE: Elaine
BULGARIAN: Elena
CROATIAN: Helena, Jela, Jelena, Jelka
CZECH: Alena, Helena, Lenka
DANISH: Eli, Elin, Ella, Helen, Helena, Helene, Lena, Lene
DUTCH: Heleen, Heleentje, Helena
ENGLISH: Ella, Elle, Ellie, Elly, Lainey, Lena, Nell, Nelle
ESTONIAN: Helena, Jelena, Leena
FINNISH: Eliina, Elina, Ella, Heleena, Helena, Heli, Leena
FRENCH: Hélène
GEORGIAN: Elene
GERMAN: Alena, Elena, Helena, Helene, Lena, Lene, Leni
GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Helen, Helena, Helene
GREEK: Eleni
HUNGARIAN: Heléna
ICELANDIC: Helena
IRISH: Léan
ITALIAN: Elena, Ileana
LATVIAN: Elīna, Helēna, Jeļena, Jelena
LITHUANIAN: Elena, Jelena
MACEDONIAN: Elena
MEDIEVAL SLAVIC: Elena
NORWEGIAN: Eli, Elin, Ella, Helen, Helena, Helene, Lena, Lene
POLISH: Helena, Lena
PORTUGUESE: Helena, Lena
ROMANIAN: Elena, Ileana, Ilinca, Lenuța
RUSSIAN: Alyona, Elena, Lena, Yelena
SERBIAN: Jela, Jelena, Jelka
SLOVAK: Alena, Elena, Helena, Jela, Lenka
SLOVENE: Alena, Helena, Jelena, Jelka
SPANISH: Elena, Ileana
SWEDISH: Elin, Elina, Ella, Helen, Helena, Helene, Lena
UKRAINIAN: Lesya, Olena
WELSH: Elen, Elin
DIMINUTIVES AND SHORT FORMS
CROATIAN: Jelica
ENGLISH: Nellie, Nelly
SERBIAN: Jelica
SLOVENE: Alenka
OTHER FORMS
CZECH: Ilona
ENGLISH: Alaina, Alayna, Nelda
FINNISH: Ilona
GERMAN: Ilona
HUNGARIAN: Ili, Ilike, Ilka, Ilona, Ilonka
LATVIAN: Ilona
LITHUANIAN: Ilona
POLISH: Ilona
SCOTTISH: Eilidh