girl's name
Helena
hel-AY-nah
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 73,017
the United States
#363
2025 births
Helena is a girl's name of Greek origin whose meaning is unresolved, and its saint is credited with finding the True Cross. It ranks 172nd in Ireland and 220th in France, and it is at its peak now.
- Helena is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 841 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,942 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Helena over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 775 |
| 1890s | 1,147 |
| 1900s | 1,197 |
| 1910s | 3,339 |
| 1920s | 3,307 |
| 1930s | 2,035 |
| 1940s | 2,066 |
| 1950s | 2,273 |
| 1960s | 2,342 |
| 1970s | 2,018 |
| 1980s | 2,014 |
| 1990s | 2,859 |
| 2000s | 5,013 |
| 2010s | 5,882 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,145 |
What Helena means
Helena's meaning has never been settled. Torch, from the Greek helene, is the traditional answer; a connection to selene, the moon, has been argued since antiquity, and neither can be demonstrated.
Where Helena comes from
Helena is the Latin form of the Greek Helene, whose derivation is genuinely lost — the torch reading rests on helene, and a solar or lunar sense has been proposed repeatedly without resolution. Two women fix the name. Helen of Troy, whose abduction or elopement starts the war, carried it into every European language. Saint Helena, mother of Constantine, traveled to Jerusalem in her seventies and is credited by tradition with finding the True Cross and identifying the sites of the Nativity and the Crucifixion; the churches she founded there shaped Christian pilgrimage for the next seventeen centuries. The island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon died, is named for her because it was sighted on her feast day. Elena, Eleni, Ilona and Yelena are the same name across Europe.
Helena in use
Helena ranks 172nd in Ireland with 28 births in 2025 and 220th in France with 545 births — a considerably stronger French position than Irish. It is rising in our data, with its peak in our records in 2025, and our records carry it from 1880. It also holds 332nd in England and Wales and 363rd in the United States, so it appears in six of the seven markets we hold.
How popular is Helena?
In 2025, Helena was given to 841 babies in the United States, ranking #363 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Helena is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Helena is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Héléna | Héléna is Helena written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #220. | 3,365 |
| Hélèna | Hélèna is Helena written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #464. | 1,980 |
| Hélena | Hélena is a rare spelling of Helena, written with an acute accent and recorded about 145 times, mostly in France. | 145 |
| Heléna | Heléna is a rare spelling of Helena, written with an acute accent and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
| Hèléna | Hèléna is a rare spelling of Helena, written with an acute accent and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Helena
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Helena also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Helena over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
3 nicknames for Helena
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Helena in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Helena
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Helena — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Helena
What does the name Helena mean?
It is unresolved. Torch is the traditional reading, and a link to the moon has been argued since antiquity.
Who was Saint Helena?
Constantine's mother, who traveled to Jerusalem in her seventies and is credited by tradition with finding the True Cross.
Is the island named after her?
Yes — Saint Helena was sighted on her feast day, and Napoleon later died there.
How popular is Helena?
172nd in Ireland and 220th in France.
Is Helena a girl's or a boy's name?
Helena is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Helena?
Helena has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Helena?
Helena is usually shortened to Leni, Nell and Lena.
Is Helena a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Helena currently ranks #172 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.