Girl · Greek
Helen
Say it: HEL-in
Meaning
Uncertain. Greek Helenē is often linked to helanē 'torch' or to selēnē 'moon', but no derivation is agreed; 'light' or 'torch' is a guess, not established.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Saint Helena made the name popular across Christian Europe, and Helen was one of the most common English girls' names around 1900.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1910s
In the United States
- 1,023,646 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1911, about 1 in 35 girls
- 718 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- Ancient Greece800 BC to 146 BC
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Ancient GreekGreekEnglishFrenchItalianSpanishRussianGermanAmerican
The family of the name
Other spellings: Helena, Hellen, Helene
| Greek | Eleni |
|---|---|
| Latin | Helena |
| French | Hélène |
| Italian | Elena |
| Spanish | Elena |
| Russian | Yelena |
| German | Helene |
| Polish | Helena |
Famous bearers
- Helen of Troy, figure of Greek legend
- Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great
- Helen Keller, American author
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Ancient Greek literature and history (Homer, Herodotus, Plutarch and others)
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today 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.