Helen

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Elena in AR Argentina, MX Mexico, ES Spain and 5 more, Елена in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, BG Bulgaria and 1 more, Helena in BR Brazil, PL Poland, NL Netherlands and Олена in UA Ukraine.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Helen is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name141K records spelled Helen6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Canada

  Also written Helén, Helèn, Hèlen, Hélen, Hélèn

• Finnish given name29K records spelled Helen4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Estonia, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Helén, Helèn

• Italian given name17K records spelled Helen5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, San Marino, Canada

  Also written Helén, Hèlèn, Hélen

• Turkish given name12K records spelled Helen11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek

  Also written Hêlên, Hëlën, Helén, Ĥèlëñ, Hélen

• a separate given name6.3K records spelled Helen10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, United Kingdom, Sweden

  Also written Helén, Helèn, Hèlen, Hélen, Hèlèn

74 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Helen is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Norwegian, habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads, notably in Agder and southwestern Norway, so named from the definite singular form of hei ‘heath’, ‘moor’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Norwegian, from a short form of any of the Germanic compound personal names formed with hag ‘enclosure’, ‘fenced area’ as the first element.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, The daughter of Zeus and Leda, considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world; her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Helen är den engelska formen och Hélène den franska av → Helena. Namnformerna var mycket populära under 1900-talets senare del i Sverige men används sparsamt i dagens namngivning. En känd namnbärare är artisten Helen Sjöholm (f. 1970).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In English, daughter of Zeus & Leda, wife of

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Helen Kellerb. 1880USAmerican deafblind author, political activist, lecturer, scholar (1880-1968)
• Helen Hayesb. 1900USAmerican actress (1900–1993)
• Helen Hortonb. 1923USAmerican actress (1923–2007)
• Martha Stewartb. 1941USnot in their usual nameAmerican businesswoman, writer, TV personality (born 1941)
• Helen Mirrenb. 1945GBBritish actress (born 1945)
• Elizabeth Blackburnb. 1948AUnot in their usual nameAustralian-American biological researcher
• Helen Clarkb. 1950NZPrime Minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008
• Helen Huntb. 1963USAmerican actress
• Helen Sharmanb. 1963GBBritish chemist who became the first Briton in space
• Sophie Rhys-Jonesb. 1965GBnot in their usual nameBritish Royal, wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,678 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Helen?

We estimate roughly 2.3 million people bear Helen (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Helen have the most bearers?

Helen is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled елена.

How common is Helen compared with other names?

In Russia, Helen is the 2nd most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Helen a male or female name?

Helen is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Helen mean?

Recorded meaning: Greek ‘bright one’; legendary Greek beauty; popular through St Helena, mother of Constantine.