Ilona

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{{Infobox given name

| name = Ilona

| image =

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| pronunciation =

| gender = Female

| meaning = "As a joy [to someone]" (in Finnish)/As Beautiful as the moon(Latin)

| region =

| language = Hungarian

| language2 = Finnish

| language3 = Estonian

| origin =

| nickname = Ilonka, Ilike, Ica, Illy, Lo, Lujzi

| variant forms = Helen, Illona, Ilana, Ileana, Elena, Helena

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| derived = Traditional name of the Queen of the Fairies in Magyar folklore

| popularity =

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}}

Ilona is a Hungarian female name.

It is the traditional name of the Queen of the Fairies in Hungarian folklore.{{Cite web|url=https://glasgow.academia.edu/TaraLotstein/Talks/22816/Finno-Ugric_Mythology_in_Hungarian_Fairy_Tales|title = Finno-Ugric Mythology in Hungarian Fairy Tales}}{{cite web |url=http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrHungarianF.html |title=Hungarian Fairies by Theodora Goss: Summer 2006, Journal of Mythic Arts, Endicott Studio |accessdate=2011-09-21 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907143604/http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrHungarianF.html |archivedate=2011-09-07 }}

The etymology of the is uncertain. The name could be Finno-Ugric, but a common theory is that Ilona is cognate of the Greek given name Helen.{{cite book|title=Discovering First Names|author=Jarvis, Stan|page=58|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7478-0383-6}}

Diminutive forms include Ilonka and Ilike.

Ilona is also a common name in Finland. There are 25,000 women named Ilona in the Finnish Population Register: [http://verkkopalvelu.vrk.fi/Nimipalvelu/default.asp?L=3 Name service] where, according to folk etymology, it refers 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|date=November 2012}} (formerly in crown union with Hungary).{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}