Helaine
Feminine form of the Greek name Helen meaning "bright one" or "shining light".
Name Census estimates that about 964 living Americans carry the first name Helaine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Helaine today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Helaine births was 1947 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Helaine. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Helaine is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Helaines were born before 1967.
People living today
964
~ 1 in 355,554 Americans
Peak year
1947
67 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,134
Tracked since 1909
Census
Helaine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,403 people with the first name Helaine, which placed it at #9,768 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,768
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,403 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Helaine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Helaine is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.6%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Helaine described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Helaine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.7% · 1,216
- Black or African American6.6% · 93
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 23
- Two or more races1.3% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Popularity
Helaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Helaine from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 479 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Helaine by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Helaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Helaines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Helaine, while Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 118 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Helaine
The name Helaine has its origins in the ancient Greek language and can be traced back to the 5th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "helios," meaning "sun." In Greek mythology, Helios was the personification of the sun and was considered one of the most powerful and revered deities.
The earliest recorded use of the name Helaine dates back to the 4th century BC, where it was mentioned in the works of the Greek philosopher Plato. In his dialogues, Plato used the name to refer to a character who was a student of Socrates.
Throughout history, the name Helaine has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the earliest and most famous was Helaine of Cyzicus, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 3rd century BC. She was renowned for her contributions to the field of geometry and was considered a pioneer in the study of conic sections.
Another notable figure was Helaine of Alexandria, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was executed for her faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Her story was recorded in various early Christian writings, and she became revered as a saint in the Catholic Church.
In the Middle Ages, the name Helaine gained popularity among the nobility in parts of Europe. One notable bearer was Helaine of Anjou, a French noblewoman who lived in the 12th century. She was known for her patronage of the arts and literature and played a significant role in the cultural renaissance of the time.
During the Renaissance, the name Helaine was associated with several influential women. One of the most famous was Helaine de Poitiers, a French noblewoman and mistress of King Henry II of France. She wielded considerable influence at the French court and was renowned for her beauty, intelligence, and political acumen.
In more recent times, the name Helaine has been borne by several writers and artists. One notable example is Helaine Olen, an American writer and journalist born in 1957, known for her work on personal finance and consumer issues.
People
Helaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Helaine as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Helaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Helaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 964 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Helaine going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 355,554 US residents.
Is Helaine a common name?
We classify Helaine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,794 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Helaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Helaine was 1947, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Helaine is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Helaine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,403 people with the name Helaine, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,768 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Helaine in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Helaine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Helaine appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,402 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Helaine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Helaine is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.6%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Helaine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Helaine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.7% (1,216 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Helaine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Helaine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Helaine in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Helaine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Helaine in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Helaine can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Helaine?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.