Halina

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Girl · Greek, through East Slavic

Halina

Say it: hah-LEE-nah

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Polish name probably from Ukrainian/Russian Halyna/Galina, from Greek Galene 'calm'; some propose links with other names, so the route is debated.

Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.

Hugely popular for Polish girls born between the wars and just after, it is rare for babies now.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

934 babies given this name since 1915
At its height in 2006, about 1 in 61,300 girls
14 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

The family of the name

Ukrainian	Halyna
Russian	Galina

Famous bearers

Halina Poświatowska, Polish poet

Names worth a look

AnielaGirlPolish form of Angela, from Greek angelos 'messenger, angel'.Revolutions

HyacinthGirl or boyFrom Greek hyakinthos, a flower name of pre-Greek origin.Middle Ages · forgotten

MiroslavaGirlFrom Slavic mir 'peace, world' and slava 'glory'.Victorian

KatarzynaGirlPolish form of Catherine, from Greek Aikaterine, of unknown origin; the link with Greek katharos 'pure' is a later…Middle Ages

LeocadiaGirlUncertain. Perhaps from Greek leukos 'white, bright', but the origin is not known.Early Medieval · forgotten

TeodoraGirlFrom Greek theos 'god' and doron 'gift'.Middle Ages · peak 1907

HelenGirlUncertain. Greek Helenē is often linked to helanē 'torch' or to selēnē 'moon', but no derivation is agreed; 'light'…Greece · peak 1911

HelenaGirlGreek Helenē, of uncertain origin; a link to words for 'torch' or 'light' is often claimed but unproven.Greece · peak 1899

Where this comes from

National birth statistics of European countries source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.