Helen
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "shining light".
Name Census estimates that about 179,926 living Americans carry the first name Helen. It sits at #424 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Helen today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Helen births was 1918 (36,228 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Helen. 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
- • Although Helen is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 3,105 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Helen is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Helens were born before 1970.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Helen have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
180K
~ 1 in 1,905 Americans
Peak year
1918
36,228 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2004 SSA rank
#424
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Helen
Out of the 1,026,632 babies given the name Helen since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Helen as a male name
- Ranked #12,003 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1927 (92 births)
Helen as a female name
- Ranked #424 in 2024
- 726 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (36,148 births)
Popularity
Helen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Helen from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 291,151 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Helen 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 Helen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 31 | 11,496 | 11,527 |
| 1890s | 115 | 37,802 | 37,917 |
| 1900s | 247 | 69,428 | 69,675 |
| 1910s | 563 | 248,154 | 248,717 |
| 1920s | 748 | 290,403 | 291,151 |
| 1930s | 665 | 140,426 | 141,091 |
| 1940s | 334 | 90,742 | 91,076 |
| 1950s | 169 | 57,578 | 57,747 |
| 1960s | 105 | 29,098 | 29,203 |
| 1970s | 65 | 11,475 | 11,540 |
| 1980s | 36 | 8,414 | 8,450 |
| 1990s | 22 | 8,405 | 8,427 |
| 2000s | 5 | 8,847 | 8,852 |
| 2010s | 0 | 7,583 | 7,583 |
| 2020s | 0 | 3,676 | 3,676 |
Geography
Where Helens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Helen, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17,715 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Helen
The name Helen has its origins in the Greek language. It is derived from the Greek word "helene," which means "bright" or "shining one." The name's earliest known use dates back to Ancient Greece, around the 8th century BCE.
In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy was a figure of great significance. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and her abduction by Paris of Troy is said to have sparked the Trojan War. This event is depicted in the Iliad, one of the earliest known works of literature, written by Homer around the 8th century BCE.
The name Helen also appears in the New Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Acts, a woman named Helen is mentioned as a follower of the prophet Simon Magus. This reference dates back to the 1st century CE.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Helen was Helen of Constantinople, also known as Saint Helen or Saint Helena. She was the mother of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman Emperor, and lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.
Another notable figure was Helen of Anjou, who lived from 1236 to 1314. She was a Queen consort of Sicily and a member of the House of Anjou. Her name was also spelled as Helena or Helene.
In the 16th century, Helen of Sweden, also known as Helena Giedyminowicz, was a Polish-born queen of Sweden. She lived from 1508 to 1585 and played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation in Sweden.
Helen Keller, born in 1880 and died in 1968, was a renowned American author, political activist, and lecturer. Despite being deaf and blind from a young age, she became a prominent advocate for people with disabilities and a champion of social justice.
Helen Hayes, who lived from 1900 to 1993, was an American actress widely regarded as the "First Lady of American Theatre." She was one of the few performers to have won all four major American entertainment awards: an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy, and a Grammy.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Helen
People
Helen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Helen 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
Helen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Helen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 179,926 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Helen 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 1,905 US residents.
Is Helen a common name?
We classify Helen as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,026,632 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Helen most popular?
The single biggest year for Helen was 1918, when 36,228 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Helen is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Helen a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Helen 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.
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.