Heli

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 24 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◐

Heli is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name67K records spelled Heli9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Helí, Héli, Helì, Hëlï, Ĥêĺi

• English given name12K records spelled Heli13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Venezuela, Finland

  Languages: English, German, Danish

  Also written Helí, He-Li, Héli

• Estonian given name6.1K records spelled Heli2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Estonia, Finland, United States, Israel

  Also written Helí

• Hindi given name3.2K records spelled Heli6 spellings in the group

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

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Urdu

  Also written হেলি, Helí

• Indonesian given name1.7K records spelled Heli3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, India, Finland, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Helí

• a separate given name773 records spelled Heli6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Finland, India, China

  Also written He-Li, Helí, Héli, Ḥeli, Hēḷi

• French given name741 records spelled Heli4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Finland, Romania, United States

  Also written Héli, Helí, Helï

53 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●

Heli 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.

• The name Heli is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eli (עֵלִי), which means "high," "lofty," or "ascent."

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• Heli's significance lies in his role within the genealogy of Jesus Christ, linking Jesus by blood to the lineage of King David through his mother, Mary, thereby fulfilling key messianic prophecies.

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• In Swedish, Heli är en finsk smekform till → Helena.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, from Hebr. Eli 'the exalted'

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In German, ) Helli: weibl. Vom., Koseform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

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●

SE SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023) — 22 years between 1999–2020. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Heli Rolando de Tella y Cantosb. 1888ESSpanish general (1888–1967)
• Heli Finkenzellerb. 1911DEGerman actress (1911–1991)
• Heli Susib. 1929EEEstonian teacher and translator (1929-2020)
• Heli Läätsb. 1932EEEstonian mezzo-soprano (1932–2018)
• Heli Speekb. 1948EEEstonian film director (born 1948)
• Heli Rantanenb. 1970FIFinnish athletics competitor
• Heli Laaksonenb. 1972FIFinnish poet and writer (born 1972)
• Heli Jukkolab. 1979FIFinnish orienteer
• Heli Simpsonb. 1987AUAustralian actor and singer (born 1987)
• Heli Daruwalab. 1992INIndian actress

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 · 346 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Heli?

We estimate roughly 20 thousand people bear Heli (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Heli have the most bearers?

We estimate about 16 thousand people bear Heli in Finland, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled heli.

Where is Heli most common?

Heli is densest in Finland, where the national register counts about 1 in 344 people carrying it.

How common is Heli compared with other names?

In Finland, Heli is the 227th most common given name of 51,554 given names recorded there.

Is Heli a male or female name?

Heli 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 Heli mean?

Recorded meaning: Heli is a biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning "ascent" or "exalted."