Helia
Of Greek origin, meaning "sun ray" or "sunshine".
Name Census estimates that about 146 living Americans carry the first name Helia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Helia today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Helia births was 2024 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Helia. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Helia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
146
~ 1 in 2,347,632 Americans
Peak year
2024
18 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,461
Tracked since 1898
Census
Helia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 637 people with the first name Helia, which placed it at #17,359 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
#17,359
National first-name rank
People counted
637
637 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Helia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Helia is White at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Helia 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 Helia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.4% · 334
- Hispanic or Latino33.0% · 210
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 38
- Black or African American4.1% · 26
- Two or more races4.1% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Helia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Helia from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 63 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Helia 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 Helia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Helia
The name Helia has its roots in ancient Greek culture, dating back to the 5th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "helios," meaning "sun." This name was often associated with the sun god Helios, who was revered in Greek mythology as the personification of the sun itself.
In ancient Greek texts, such as the works of Homer and Hesiod, the name Helia is mentioned in connection with various mythological figures and deities related to the sun. For instance, Helia was one of the Heliades, the daughters of Helios and the nymph Clymene, who were turned into poplar trees after mourning their brother's death.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Helia can be found in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. He mentioned a woman named Helia who was the wife of the Spartan king Pausanias.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Helia. One of the most famous was Helia Eudocia (401-460 AD), a Byzantine empress who was known for her literary accomplishments and her patronage of the arts and sciences.
Another prominent figure was Helia Doxapatres (c. 1022-1098), a Byzantine noblewoman and writer who authored several works on religious and philosophical subjects.
In the realm of science, Helia Bravo Hollis (1901-2001) was a Mexican astronomer and pioneer in the field of astrophysics. She made significant contributions to the study of variable stars and was the first woman to be appointed as a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Helia Corrigan (1883-1976) was an American suffragist and women's rights activist who played a crucial role in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States during the early 20th century.
In more recent times, Helia Bravo Martínez (born 1936) is a notable Mexican author and playwright, known for her works that explore themes of identity, gender, and social issues.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Helia, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human culture and accomplishments.
People
Helia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Helia 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
Helia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Helia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 146 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Helia 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 2,347,632 US residents.
Is Helia a common name?
We classify Helia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Helia most popular?
The single biggest year for Helia was 2024, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Helia is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Helia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 637 people with the name Helia, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,359 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 Helia 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 Helia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Helia appears almost entirely female. Of the 630 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Helia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Helia is White at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Helia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Helia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.4% (334 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 Helia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Helia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Helia 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 Helia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Helia 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 Helia 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 have the name Helia?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Helia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.