Girl · Ancient Greek
Helena
Say it: HEL-eh-nuh
Meaning
Greek Helenē, of uncertain origin; a link to words for 'torch' or 'light' is often claimed but unproven.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Spread through the cult of Saint Helena, credited with finding the True Cross.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 36,833 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1899, about 1 in 1,700 girls
- 590 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- Ancient Greece800 BC to 146 BC
- Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Early ChristianAncient GreekGreekEnglishFrenchSpanishItalianGermanPolishRussianCzechSlovakUkrainianSerbianCroatianBulgarianBrazilianArgentine
The family of the name
Other spellings: Helen, Ellen, Hela, Elena
| French | Hélène |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Elena |
| Italian | Elena |
| Portuguese | Helena |
| German | Helene |
| Polish | Helena |
| Russian | Yelena |
| Hungarian | Ilona |
Famous bearers
- Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine
- Helen of Troy, figure of Greek legend
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Ancient Greek literature and history (Homer, Herodotus, Plutarch and others)
- Calendars of saints and name days
- Royal and noble genealogies
- 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.