Helene

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, Helen in US United States, AU Australia, PH Philippines and 1 more and Helena in BR Brazil, PL Poland, NL Netherlands.

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 18 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◐

Helene is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name16K records spelled Helene18 spellings in the group

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

  Also written Hélène, Heléne, Héléne, Helené, Helène

• Finnish given name12K records spelled Helene11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, Sweden

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Heléne, Hélène, Helène, Helené, Hèléne

• French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name12K records spelled Helene3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

  Also written Hélène, Helène

• a separate given name4.6K records spelled Helene6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Sweden, United States, Canada

  Also written Heléne, Hélène, Helené, Héléne, Hélene

• Polish given name4.4K records spelled Helene27 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, Czechia, Croatia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Hélène, Hélene, Héléne, Heléne, Хелене

• Indonesian given name1.4K records spelled Helene6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, Canada, Sweden

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Helène, Hèlène, Heléne, Héléne

70 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●

Helene 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 English, A female given name from Ancient Greek.

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

• In German, ) Helena: in Deutschland seit dem Mittelalter belegter weibl. Vom. (griech.

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In German, Helene Weigel,

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In Hawaiian, Greece (a country in Southeast Europe)

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

• In Latvian, Helēna - Saturna pavadonis

  as a word·Tēzaurs.lv (Dictionary and Thesaurus of Latvian, AiLab / LU MII)

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●

• Princess Helena, Duchess of Albanyb. 1861DEnot in their usual nameGerman princess (1861-1922)
• Clara Immerwahrb. 1870DEnot in their usual nameGerman chemist (1870-1915)
• Alexandra Feodorovnab. 1872RUnot in their usual nameEmpress consort of Russia (1872–1918)
• Gabriele Münterb. 1877DEnot in their usual nameGerman painter (1877–1962)
• Margarete Schütte-Lihotzkyb. 1897ATnot in their usual nameAustrian architect (1897–2000)
• Helene Weigelb. 1900ATGerman actress and artistic director (1900–1971)
• Leni Riefenstahlb. 1902DEnot in their usual nameGerman filmmaker, photographer, actress, and nazi propagandist (1902–2003)
• Helene Grassb. 1974DEGerman actress
• Helene Fischerb. 1984DEGerman singer
• Eleni Foureirab. 1987GRnot in their usual nameGreek singer

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 · 794 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Helene?

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

In which country does Helene have the most bearers?

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

How common is Helene compared with other names?

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

Is Helene a male or female name?

Helene 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 Helene mean?

Recorded meaning: French/German form of Helen, from Greek 'torch; shining one'.