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BabyNames
Girl name#17 of girl names

Helen

Pronounced HH EH1 L AH0 N (ARPABET)

  • 2 syllables
  • Peaked 1918
  • 145 years in use
  • Biblical
  • 1 spelling
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How popular is Helen?

Helen is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 1,036,654 children — the 17th most common girls' name on record.

Its use has been broadly flat across the past two decades. Its best single year was 1918, when 36,379 children were given it.

Helon is counted with it here, since the two are pronounced identically.

012,50025,00037,50050,00018901920195019802010
1918Girls: 36,379Boys: 80

Spelling variants

These spellings sound identical to Helen and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.

  • Helon

Characteristics

  • Biblical (Person)
  • 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
Pronunciations:
HH EH1 L AH0 N · HH IY1 L AA1 N
Stress pattern:
10 · 11
Syllables:
2

Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.

Names like Helen

Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.

Sibling names for Helen

Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.

Frequently asked questions

How popular is the name Helen?
Helen ranks 17th among girls' names in US records, with 1,036,654 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 8,446.
Is Helen a unisex name?
No. Helen is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
When was Helen most popular?
1918, when 36,379 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
How else is Helen spelled?
Helon. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.