Helga
Helga was last recorded in 2020, when 5 babies were given it; 2,209 Americans have been recorded with it between 1882 and 2020 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Helga by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Helga mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Helga is “a female given name from Old Norse occasionally borrowed from Scandinavia.” Its etymology gives the sense “holy” (Helga).
From Old Norse Helga (“holy”), a pre-Christian term, feminine form of Helgi. Doublet of Olga.
/ˈhɛlɡə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Helga?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,999, in 2020; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
54 babies in 1961, the peak
Helga peaked in 1961, when 54 girls were given it, #1,536 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 5 | #15,999 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 6 | #12,303 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 5 | #13,939 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 5 | #13,759 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 5 | #12,468 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 10 | #6,453 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,544 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 7 | #8,452 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 12 | #5,533 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 14 | #4,769 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 14 | #4,742 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 14 | #4,436 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 15 | #4,217 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 13 | #4,548 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 19 | #3,387 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 15 | #3,959 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 28 | #2,621 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 18 | #3,478 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 28 | #2,468 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 24 | #2,570 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 29 | #2,231 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 31 | #2,114 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 26 | #2,364 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 32 | #2,124 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 39 | #1,876 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 35 | #1,957 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 54 | #1,536 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 40 | #1,796 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 45 | #1,625 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 49 | #1,531 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 35 | #1,851 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 26 | #2,168 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 30 | #1,955 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 27 | #2,045 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 17 | #2,629 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 24 | #2,091 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 13 | #3,000 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 16 | #2,594 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,017 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 12 | #3,039 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 13 | #2,961 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 12 | #2,940 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 15 | #2,273 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,682 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,482 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 19 | #2,003 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,582 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 28 | #1,449 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 27 | #1,443 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 33 | #1,277 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 26 | #1,470 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,827 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 17 | #1,956 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 20 | #1,730 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,865 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 17 | #1,987 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 28 | #1,406 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 18 | #1,973 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 23 | #1,663 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 25 | #1,649 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,292 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 23 | #1,797 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 19 | #2,067 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 21 | #1,948 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 28 | #1,570 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 34 | #1,385 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 20 | #2,013 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 22 | #1,842 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 29 | #1,462 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 37 | #1,246 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 43 | #1,084 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 46 | #1,015 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 40 | #1,063 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 33 | #1,046 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 29 | #1,013 | 0.05 |
| 1912 | 27 | #986 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 20 | #995 | 0.05 |
| 1910 | 20 | #985 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 12 | #1,247 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 16 | #1,023 | 0.05 |
| 1907 | 23 | #778 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 14 | #1,016 | 0.05 |
| 1905 | 21 | #809 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 19 | #842 | 0.07 |
| 1903 | 15 | #909 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 12 | #1,046 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 17 | #807 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 18 | #896 | 0.06 |
| 1899 | 29 | #572 | 0.12 |
| 1898 | 27 | #625 | 0.10 |
| 1897 | 21 | #686 | 0.09 |
| 1896 | 25 | #625 | 0.11 |
| 1895 | 19 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1894 | 17 | #726 | 0.08 |
| 1893 | 20 | #649 | 0.09 |
| 1892 | 22 | #603 | 0.10 |
| 1891 | 20 | #602 | 0.11 |
| 1890 | 17 | #650 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 14 | #701 | 0.08 |
| 1888 | 14 | #703 | 0.08 |
| 1887 | 9 | #815 | 0.06 |
| 1886 | 14 | #619 | 0.10 |
| 1885 | 6 | #974 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 9 | #760 | 0.07 |
| 1882 | 5 | #960 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Helga a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Helga has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 105 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Helga: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Helga, and how old are they?
An estimated 854 Americans named Helga and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (39% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 57 and 71. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 7,052 people named Helga (7,036 women and girls, 16 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 970 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7.3 times 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.
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 Helga born?
The states with the most babies named Helga are New York, Minnesota and Illinois, with 73% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 253 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Minnesota | 45 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 39 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| California | 36 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 27 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| North Dakota | 21 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Ohio | 18 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Iowa | 10 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
| Wisconsin | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Helga is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Helga is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.6 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 Helga with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Helga
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 Helga and names like it
- Compare Helga and DagmarBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sHelga peaked in 1961.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Helga since 1910.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Helga.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Helga alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.