Helmer
Helmer was last recorded in 2017, when 7 babies were given it; 835 Americans have been recorded with it between 1884 and 2017 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Helmer by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Helmer mean?
Wiktionary, Danish section
Helmer is “a male given name” Its etymology gives the senses “hale” (heil) and “famous” (mar).
German equivalent of Hjalmar or from Germanic heil “hale” + mar “famous”.
Meaning: Wiktionary, Danish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Helmer?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #10,088, in 2017; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
37 babies in 1917, the peak
Helmer peaked in 1917, when 37 boys were given it, #1,097 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 7 | #10,088 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 6 | #11,228 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 6 | #11,352 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 5 | #12,948 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 9 | #8,540 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 9 | #8,442 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 10 | #7,312 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 7 | #9,010 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 8 | #7,914 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 5 | #11,013 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (71)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 12 | #4,986 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 6 | #8,174 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,171 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 5 | #4,092 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #3,921 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #3,892 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 6 | #3,137 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,264 | under 0.01 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,270 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,320 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,573 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 10 | #2,356 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,447 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,641 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,125 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,553 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,513 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 20 | #1,699 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 13 | #2,324 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,345 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 10 | #2,798 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 18 | #1,902 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 18 | #1,928 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 21 | #1,717 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 28 | #1,414 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 12 | #2,549 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 29 | #1,360 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 33 | #1,239 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 37 | #1,138 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 37 | #1,097 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 29 | #1,251 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 22 | #1,480 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 27 | #1,114 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 26 | #978 | 0.05 |
| 1912 | 21 | #1,010 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,073 | 0.05 |
| 1910 | 7 | #1,363 | 0.04 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,206 | 0.04 |
| 1908 | 11 | #855 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,039 | 0.05 |
| 1906 | 8 | #963 | 0.06 |
| 1904 | 8 | #925 | 0.06 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,073 | 0.05 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,211 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 10 | #871 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 11 | #636 | 0.10 |
| 1898 | 8 | #841 | 0.07 |
| 1897 | 15 | #528 | 0.13 |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,039 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 10 | #719 | 0.09 |
| 1894 | 9 | #756 | 0.08 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,107 | 0.04 |
| 1892 | 11 | #655 | 0.09 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,028 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 9 | #698 | 0.08 |
| 1889 | 9 | #694 | 0.08 |
| 1888 | 8 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 8 | #712 | 0.08 |
| 1886 | 8 | #722 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 12 | #562 | 0.11 |
| 1884 | 6 | #902 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Helmer a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Helmer has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 71 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Helmer: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Helmer, and how old are they?
An estimated 117 Americans named Helmer and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (14% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 18 and 31. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 540 people named Helmer (3 women and girls, 537 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 140 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.9 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 Helmer born?
The states with the most babies named Helmer are Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, with 100% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota and North Dakota and Wisconsin are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 113 | not ranked | 8.1× |
| North Dakota | 27 | not ranked | 6.2× |
| Wisconsin | 17 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Helmer is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Helmer is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 8.1 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 boys’ 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 Helmer 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 Helmer
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 Helmer and names like it
- Compare Helmer and ParkBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sHelmer peaked in 1917.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Helmer since 1910.
- Danish namesWiktionary’s origin for Helmer: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Helmer.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Helmer alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with HMost given first.