Helena
Helena was given to 841 girls in 2025, #363 among girls’ names; 40,412 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 27,100 Americans named Helena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (67% of everyone recorded); the median is 23 years old and half are between 11 and 49.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Helena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Helena mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Helena is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.”
Also “a transliteration of the Pannonian Rusyn female given name Гелена (Helena), equivalent to Helen.”
A Latinate form of Helen, borrowed from Latin Helena.
/ˈhɛlənə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Helena?
#363 among girls’ names, 2025
Helena rose from #535 in 2015 to #363 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.33 to 0.52 per 1,000.
841 babies in 2025, the peak
Helena peaked in 2025, when 841 girls were given it, #363 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 754 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 841 | #363 | 0.52 |
| 2024 | 754 | #414 | 0.47 |
| 2023 | 678 | #456 | 0.42 |
| 2022 | 675 | #471 | 0.41 |
| 2021 | 604 | #513 | 0.37 |
| 2020 | 593 | #512 | 0.37 |
| 2019 | 658 | #475 | 0.39 |
| 2018 | 689 | #458 | 0.41 |
| 2017 | 610 | #515 | 0.35 |
| 2016 | 602 | #517 | 0.34 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 583 | #535 | 0.33 |
| 2014 | 627 | #498 | 0.35 |
| 2013 | 543 | #548 | 0.31 |
| 2012 | 529 | #558 | 0.30 |
| 2011 | 491 | #588 | 0.28 |
| 2010 | 550 | #534 | 0.31 |
| 2009 | 533 | #573 | 0.29 |
| 2008 | 503 | #609 | 0.27 |
| 2007 | 584 | #536 | 0.30 |
| 2006 | 595 | #511 | 0.31 |
| 2005 | 530 | #542 | 0.29 |
| 2004 | 511 | #561 | 0.28 |
| 2003 | 541 | #521 | 0.30 |
| 2002 | 432 | #599 | 0.24 |
| 2001 | 417 | #602 | 0.23 |
| 2000 | 367 | #662 | 0.20 |
| 1999 | 415 | #591 | 0.23 |
| 1998 | 339 | #679 | 0.19 |
| 1997 | 310 | #694 | 0.18 |
| 1996 | 350 | #641 | 0.20 |
| 1995 | 342 | #637 | 0.19 |
| 1994 | 287 | #723 | 0.16 |
| 1993 | 233 | #842 | 0.13 |
| 1992 | 187 | #1,005 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 196 | #961 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 200 | #944 | 0.11 |
| 1989 | 175 | #985 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 187 | #914 | 0.11 |
| 1987 | 166 | #962 | 0.10 |
| 1986 | 206 | #816 | 0.12 |
| 1985 | 187 | #859 | 0.11 |
| 1984 | 203 | #790 | 0.12 |
| 1983 | 206 | #776 | 0.12 |
| 1982 | 244 | #712 | 0.14 |
| 1981 | 222 | #746 | 0.13 |
| 1980 | 218 | #761 | 0.13 |
| 1979 | 244 | #694 | 0.15 |
| 1978 | 212 | #738 | 0.14 |
| 1977 | 213 | #725 | 0.14 |
| 1976 | 186 | #773 | 0.13 |
| 1975 | 205 | #721 | 0.14 |
| 1974 | 193 | #739 | 0.13 |
| 1973 | 188 | #743 | 0.13 |
| 1972 | 189 | #739 | 0.12 |
| 1971 | 187 | #778 | 0.11 |
| 1970 | 201 | #737 | 0.11 |
| 1969 | 193 | #724 | 0.11 |
| 1968 | 185 | #719 | 0.11 |
| 1967 | 197 | #695 | 0.12 |
| 1966 | 226 | #636 | 0.13 |
| 1965 | 260 | #594 | 0.15 |
| 1964 | 305 | #563 | 0.16 |
| 1963 | 272 | #608 | 0.14 |
| 1962 | 253 | #636 | 0.13 |
| 1961 | 236 | #675 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 215 | #695 | 0.11 |
| 1959 | 249 | #631 | 0.12 |
| 1958 | 230 | #654 | 0.11 |
| 1957 | 263 | #601 | 0.13 |
| 1956 | 225 | #635 | 0.11 |
| 1955 | 208 | #642 | 0.11 |
| 1954 | 214 | #621 | 0.11 |
| 1953 | 228 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1952 | 209 | #600 | 0.11 |
| 1951 | 228 | #559 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 219 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1949 | 226 | #554 | 0.13 |
| 1948 | 210 | #577 | 0.12 |
| 1947 | 220 | #576 | 0.12 |
| 1946 | 228 | #521 | 0.15 |
| 1945 | 178 | #551 | 0.14 |
| 1944 | 183 | #536 | 0.14 |
| 1943 | 209 | #516 | 0.15 |
| 1942 | 218 | #502 | 0.16 |
| 1941 | 194 | #500 | 0.16 |
| 1940 | 200 | #478 | 0.17 |
| 1939 | 195 | #478 | 0.18 |
| 1938 | 168 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1937 | 198 | #464 | 0.19 |
| 1936 | 177 | #483 | 0.17 |
| 1935 | 190 | #462 | 0.18 |
| 1934 | 188 | #473 | 0.18 |
| 1933 | 205 | #459 | 0.20 |
| 1932 | 224 | #443 | 0.21 |
| 1931 | 248 | #412 | 0.23 |
| 1930 | 242 | #430 | 0.21 |
| 1929 | 252 | #421 | 0.23 |
| 1928 | 270 | #416 | 0.23 |
| 1927 | 287 | #403 | 0.24 |
| 1926 | 257 | #429 | 0.22 |
| 1925 | 351 | #363 | 0.29 |
| 1924 | 386 | #342 | 0.31 |
| 1923 | 372 | #341 | 0.31 |
| 1922 | 358 | #345 | 0.30 |
| 1921 | 391 | #334 | 0.32 |
| 1920 | 383 | #334 | 0.32 |
| 1919 | 440 | #302 | 0.39 |
| 1918 | 488 | #285 | 0.42 |
| 1917 | 440 | #294 | 0.41 |
| 1916 | 424 | #289 | 0.41 |
| 1915 | 405 | #289 | 0.41 |
| 1914 | 327 | #291 | 0.43 |
| 1913 | 245 | #302 | 0.39 |
| 1912 | 220 | #308 | 0.39 |
| 1911 | 175 | #299 | 0.42 |
| 1910 | 175 | #293 | 0.44 |
| 1909 | 151 | #293 | 0.43 |
| 1908 | 124 | #317 | 0.37 |
| 1907 | 139 | #296 | 0.44 |
| 1906 | 93 | #347 | 0.31 |
| 1905 | 106 | #326 | 0.36 |
| 1904 | 112 | #305 | 0.41 |
| 1903 | 108 | #302 | 0.41 |
| 1902 | 133 | #270 | 0.50 |
| 1901 | 119 | #271 | 0.50 |
| 1900 | 112 | #319 | 0.37 |
| 1899 | 135 | #240 | 0.58 |
| 1898 | 133 | #260 | 0.51 |
| 1897 | 131 | #246 | 0.56 |
| 1896 | 118 | #265 | 0.50 |
| 1895 | 107 | #273 | 0.46 |
| 1894 | 106 | #268 | 0.48 |
| 1893 | 99 | #269 | 0.46 |
| 1892 | 124 | #234 | 0.58 |
| 1891 | 94 | #252 | 0.51 |
| 1890 | 100 | #248 | 0.53 |
| 1889 | 103 | #231 | 0.58 |
| 1888 | 103 | #228 | 0.58 |
| 1887 | 78 | #239 | 0.53 |
| 1886 | 69 | #248 | 0.48 |
| 1885 | 86 | #210 | 0.65 |
| 1884 | 86 | #201 | 0.67 |
| 1883 | 69 | #212 | 0.61 |
| 1882 | 60 | #222 | 0.56 |
| 1881 | 61 | #194 | 0.66 |
| 1880 | 60 | #198 | 0.66 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Helena a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Helena has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 146 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Helena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Helena, and how old are they?
27,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 67% of the 40,412 Americans ever recorded as Helena. The median Helena alive today is 23 years old; half are between 11 and 49.
The 2020 Census counted 31,617 people named Helena (31,573 women and girls, 44 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 24,369 born in the U.S. The Census count is 30% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,050 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,460 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,060 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,490 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 7,570 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 8,410 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Helena born?
The states with the most babies named Helena are Texas, California and Florida, with 37% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 106 | #321 | 0.8× |
| California | 102 | #320 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 89 | #211 | 1.0× |
| Massachusetts | 63 | #88 | 2.0× |
| New Jersey | 36 | #232 | 1.4× |
| New York | 33 | #511 | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 30 | #379 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 30 | #277 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 28 | #389 | 1.2× |
| Georgia | 25 | #459 | 0.4× |
Where Helena is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Helena is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1910 it was given 2.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Helena with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 76,617 babies since 1880, Helena is the most given (53% of them). In 2025 it was given to 841 of their 935 babies (90%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Helena
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Helena and names like it
- Compare Helena and HeleneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sHelena peaked in 2025.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Helena since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Helena: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Helena.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Helena alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with HMost given first.