Helena
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "bright" or "shining light".
Name Census estimates that about 25,427 living Americans carry the first name Helena. It sits at #414 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Helena today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Helena births was 2024 (754 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Helena. 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.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,480 Americans
Peak year
2024
754 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#414
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Helena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Helena from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,878 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Helena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Helena 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 Helena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Helenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Helena, while South Dakota, North Dakota, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 626 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Helena
The name Helena has its origins in the ancient Greek language and culture, dating back to antiquity. It is derived from the Greek word "helene," which means "bright" or "shining one." The name is believed to be connected to the Greek goddess of beauty and love, Helene, who is better known by her Roman name, Venus.
Helena is a name that has been used throughout history and has been associated with various notable figures. In Greek mythology, Helena of Troy, also known as Helen of Troy, was a famous figure whose abduction by Paris of Troy sparked the Trojan War. This event is recounted in Homer's epic poem, the Iliad, which is one of the earliest written works in Western literature.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Helena can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. Helena of Constantinople, also known as Saint Helena, was the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches for her role in establishing Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
During the Middle Ages, Helena was a popular name among European nobility. One notable bearer of the name was Helena of Sweden (1325-1384), who was the Queen of Sweden from 1363 until her death. Another important figure was Helena Dragaš (c. 1360-1405), who was the Empress of Serbia and a member of the Byzantine imperial family.
In the Renaissance period, Helena Lucretia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684) was an Italian philosopher and theologian who became the first woman to receive a doctoral degree from the University of Padua in 1678.
Another famous Helena was Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), a Russian occultist and co-founder of the Theosophical Society, which played a significant role in introducing Eastern philosophy and mysticism to the Western world.
Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965) was a Polish-American businesswoman and cosmetics entrepreneur who revolutionized the cosmetics industry and played a pivotal role in establishing the modern beauty industry.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Helena, a name with a rich cultural and historical legacy spanning centuries and various civilizations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Helena
People
Helena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Helena 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
Helena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Helena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25,427 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Helena 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 13,480 US residents.
Is Helena a common name?
We classify Helena as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,561 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Helena most popular?
The single biggest year for Helena was 2024, when 754 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Helena is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Helena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Helena 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.