Meaning of the nameHelen
- Female
- Greek origin
- He-len
Helen is a spelling of the name Elen, which means “form of Helen, probably 'torch'”.
Meaning
“form of Helen, probably 'torch'”
Meaning of the name Elen, of which Helen is a spelling.
Source: Behind the Name: Helen
- People (2022)
- 47,070
- Rank in Brazil
- #588
- Median age
- 24 years
- 2010 Census
- 38,277
- people
Helen in the 2022 Census
People with the first name Helen, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 2000s (14,332 people).
46,794 women 276 men
Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.
Where the name Helen is most common
States with the highest share of people named Helen in the population, in the 2022 Census.
- Distrito Federal 0.037%
- Amapá 0.032%
- Amazonas 0.031%
- Goiás 0.031%
- Minas Gerais 0.030%
All states
| State | People | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| São Paulo | 10,447 | 0.024% |
| Minas Gerais | 6,189 | 0.030% |
| Rio de Janeiro | 3,784 | 0.024% |
| Paraná | 2,943 | 0.026% |
| Rio Grande do Sul | 2,641 | 0.024% |
| Bahia | 2,413 | 0.017% |
| Pará | 2,411 | 0.030% |
| Goiás | 2,173 | 0.031% |
| Santa Catarina | 1,741 | 0.023% |
| Maranhão | 1,653 | 0.024% |
| Pernambuco | 1,241 | 0.014% |
| Amazonas | 1,237 | 0.031% |
| Ceará | 1,203 | 0.014% |
| Distrito Federal | 1,034 | 0.037% |
| Mato Grosso | 874 | 0.024% |
| Espírito Santo | 663 | 0.017% |
| Paraíba | 634 | 0.016% |
| Mato Grosso do Sul | 617 | 0.022% |
| Piauí | 589 | 0.018% |
| Rio Grande do Norte | 461 | 0.014% |
| Tocantins | 444 | 0.029% |
| Sergipe | 428 | 0.019% |
| Rondônia | 399 | 0.025% |
| Alagoas | 255 | 0.008% |
| Amapá | 237 | 0.032% |
| Roraima | 190 | 0.030% |
| Acre | 169 | 0.020% |
States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.
The spelling Helen
It keeps the initial H; it is the English form of Greek Helene, and the Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil uses it as the main entry for the spellings Elen and Helem.
About the name Elen
Behind the Name records Elen as the Welsh and modern Armenian form of Helen, and the Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil lists it among the spelling variants of Helen. Wiktionary traces Helen to French Hélène, Latin Helena and Greek Ἑλένη (Helénē), and gives Ellen as a medieval English variant of Helen. For Behind the Name, the Greek name probably comes from helene, 'torch', or perhaps is related to selene, 'moon', and the etymology remains uncertain. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 52,022 people named Elen, almost always women, with a median age of 22; proportionally, the name is most common in Amapá.
Other spellings of Elen
Sources
- Behind the Name: Elen · behindthename.com · origin
- Behind the Name: Helen · behindthename.com · meaning
- Wiktionary: Helen · en.wiktionary.org · origin
- Wiktionary: Ellen · en.wiktionary.org · origin
- Behind the Name: Ellen · behindthename.com · origin
- Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Helen · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling
Questions about the name Helen
What does the name Helen mean?
Helen means “form of Helen, probably 'torch'”, according to Behind the Name. This is the meaning of the name Elen, of which Helen is a spelling.
How many people are named Helen in Brazil?
IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 47,070 people with the first name Helen, which ranks it number 588 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 2000s.
Is Helen a boy's or a girl's name?
Helen is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 46,794 women and 276 men had this name.
What is the origin of the name Helen?
Helen is a name of Greek origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.
In which Brazilian state is Helen most common?
Proportionally, in Distrito Federal: 0.037% of the state's population is named Helen (1,034 people), according to the 2022 Census.
What are the other spellings of Helen?
Ellen, Elen and Hellen. IBGE counts each spelling separately.
Names that also mean light
See all- Luciana♀Feminine form of Luciano, from Lucius, linked to 'light'407,163 people
- Helena♀Probably from Greek helene, 'torch'366,186 people
- Lúcia♀Feminine of Lúcio (Lucius), from lux, 'light'248,576 people
- Elaine♀Form of Helen, probably 'torch'241,786 people
- Luzia♀From Latin Lūcia, feminine of Lucius, derived from lux, 'light'212,889 people
- Rosana♀Form of Roxana, from Old Iranian rauxšnā, 'bright'176,603 people
- Luciene♀Variant of Luciana, a name linked to Latin lux, 'light'136,080 people
- Clara♀Clear, bright, illustrious126,362 people
More names of Greek origin
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- Sônia♀Russian diminutive form of Sofia, 'wisdom'323,710 people
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- Sofia♀Wisdom287,227 people
- Andreia♀Feminine form of André, 'manly, masculine'281,664 people
- Lara♀Russian short form of Larisa, a name possibly taken from the Greek…281,125 people
- Ângela♀Feminine of Ângelo, from Latin angelus, 'angel, messenger'268,995 people
- Joana♀Feminine of João, 'Yahweh is gracious'238,493 people
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