How Many People Are Named Helen?
people named Helen are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 1,629 people in the US has this name
Based on 1,027,307 babies named Helen in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
⭐ Uncommon
Peak Year
36,228 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
English form of the Greek ‘Ελενη (Helene), probably from Greek ‘ελενη (helene) "torch" or "corposant", or possibly related to σεληνη (selene) "moon". In Greek mythology Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, whose kidnapping by Paris was the cause of the Trojan War. The name was also borne by the 4th-century Saint Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, who supposedly found the True Cross during a trip to Jerusalem.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Helen in English. Counting Helen and these spellings together, about 213,660 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Helen (99.7%) were girls.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Helen alive today is about 66 years old, and 74% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 58 and 82 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Helen first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1918, to 36,228 babies. In 2025, 668 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Helen reached #2 among girls' names in 1900 to 1919, and was in the top 10 for 45 years, 1891 to 1935. In 2025 it ranked #462.
| Girls | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #462 |
| Best rank | #2 (1900 to 1919) |
| Years in the top 10 | 45 |
| Years in the top 100 | 79 (1880 to 1958) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #3 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Helen alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Helen were born in New York than in any other state: about 19,846 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Helen was given 2.2 times as often in Alaska, 1.4 times in Delaware and 1.4 times in New Jersey.
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