Helen is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning “ray of light.” Its exact origin is debated among name scholars. In 2024 it was given to 726 girls in the United States.
Helen belongs to the Greek tradition. Its meaning — “ray of light” — is the sense carried by its Greek roots, and it is the meaning we verified against published sources for this page.
In the United States, Helen first appears in Social Security records in 1880. It climbed to its best-ever rank of #2 in 1900, and in 2024 726 babies received the name — 1,023,527 in total since 1880. Those are the official counts, not estimates.
More names from the Greek shelf:
Helen means “ray of light” in its Greek roots. We check every meaning against published sources before it appears here.
Helen is a girl name. In 2024, 726 babies received the name in the US.
Helen comes from the Greek tradition.
Helen first appears in US records in 1880. Its best-ever ranking was #2 in 1900, and 726 babies were given the name in 2024.
Helen is pronounced /ˈhɛlən/ (IPA).
Meaning and origin for this page were checked against this source. US popularity figures are from the Social Security Administration's public baby-names data. If you spot an error, write to [email protected] — accuracy is the whole point of this site, and corrections are made fast.
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