Helmer
A name derived from German origin meaning "bright helmet".
Name Census estimates that about 139 living Americans carry the first name Helmer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Helmer today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Helmer births was 1917 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Helmer. 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
139
~ 1 in 2,465,859 Americans
Peak year
1917
37 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2017 SSA rank
#10,090
Tracked since 1884
Census
Helmer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 539 people with the first name Helmer, which placed it at #19,554 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
#19,554
National first-name rank
People counted
539
539 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
70.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Helmer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Helmer is Hispanic at 70.7%. The next largest groups are White (23.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Helmer 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 Helmer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino70.7% · 381
- White23.6% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 19
- Black or African American1.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
- Two or more races0.6% · 3
Popularity
Helmer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Helmer from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 250 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Helmer 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 Helmer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Helmers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Helmer, while Wisconsin, North Dakota, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Helmer
The name Helmer is of Germanic origin, deriving from the Old Norse words "hilmir" or "helmr," which translate to "helmet" or "protector." This name emerged during the Viking Age, spanning the late 8th to the late 11th centuries, when Scandinavian warriors and explorers ventured across Europe and beyond.
The name Helmer was particularly prevalent among the Norse people in what is now Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. It was often given to sons born to families with a strong warrior tradition, signifying strength, bravery, and the ability to protect one's kin.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Helmer can be found in the Icelandic sagas, a collection of literary works written in the 13th and 14th centuries that detail the lives and adventures of Norse settlers in Iceland. These sagas mention several characters bearing the name Helmer, although their historical accuracy is debated.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Helmer. One of the earliest was Helmer of Wurzburg, a 9th-century German nobleman and military leader who fought against the invading Magyars. Another was Helmer Muurling, a 14th-century Dutch knight and crusader who participated in the Alexandrian Crusade.
In more recent times, Helmer Herlingsson (1877-1947) was a Swedish politician and trade union leader who played a significant role in shaping labor policies in Sweden during the early 20th century. Helmer Hanssen (1870-1956) was a Norwegian explorer and hunter who led several expeditions to the Arctic regions and was known for his expertise in polar travel.
Additionally, Helmer Morten Nissen (1912-1991) was a Danish architect and designer who made significant contributions to the field of furniture design, particularly with his iconic "Nissen" chair. Helmer Rosen (1931-2017) was a Swedish author and journalist who wrote extensively on social and political issues, earning him the prestigious August Prize for his work.
While the name Helmer has historically been more common in Scandinavian countries and Germanic regions, it has also found its way into other cultures and languages over time, though its origins can be traced back to the ancient Norse heritage.
People
Helmer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Helmer 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
Helmer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Helmer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Helmer 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 2,465,859 US residents.
Is Helmer a common name?
We classify Helmer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 835 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Helmer most popular?
The single biggest year for Helmer was 1917, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Helmer is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Helmer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 539 people with the name Helmer, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,554 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 Helmer 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 Helmer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Helmer appears almost entirely male. Of the 540 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Helmer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Helmer is Hispanic at 70.7%. The next largest groups are White (23.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Helmer most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Helmer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.7% (381 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 Helmer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Helmer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Helmer in the SSA data are male. 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 Helmer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Helmer 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 Helmer 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 are named Helmer?
Want to know how many people have the name Helmer? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.