Ilona is a female name in Finland and Hungary.

Ilona
GenderFemale
Language(s)Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian
Origin
Meaning"As a joy [to someone]" (in Finnish)
Other names
Variant form(s)Helen, Illona, Ileana, Elena, Helena
Nickname(s)Ilonka, Ilike, Ica, Illy, Lo
DerivedTraditional name of the Queen of the Fairies in Magyar folklore

In Hungarian female given name, the traditional name of the Queen of the Fairies in Hungarian folklore.[1][2]

Its etymology is uncertain, could be Finno-Ugric, but a common theory is that Ilona is cognate of the Greek given name Helen.[3]

Diminutive forms include Ilonka and Ilike.

Ilona is a common name in Finland,[4] where it is considered to refer to the Finnish word ilo ("joy") and ilona literally means "as a joy [to someone]". It is also common in Latvia, Estonia, France, Lithuania and Poland[citation needed] (formerly in crown union with Hungary).[citation needed]

People edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Finno-Ugric Mythology in Hungarian Fairy Tales".
  2. ^ "Hungarian Fairies by Theodora Goss: Summer 2006, Journal of Mythic Arts, Endicott Studio". Archived from the original on 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2011-09-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ Jarvis, Stan (2008). Discovering First Names. Osprey Publishing. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-7478-0383-6.
  4. ^ There are 25,000 women named Ilona in the Finnish Population Register: Name service