US baby names · Girls · 1880–2025

Helen: name popularity by year

How often US parents chose Helen for a baby girl, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.

The short answer

Helen was one of the 10 most common girls' names in the US in 45 years, between 1891 and 1935, reaching #2. Births peaked in 1918, when 36,148 baby girls were named Helen, so by peak year it is a Greatest Generation name.

Generation at the peak

Greatest Generation

Born 1901–1927

Peak year

1918

36,148 baby girls named Helen

Years in the top 10

45

1891–1935

Best rank

#2

Never #1

Babies named Helen

1 million

Girls, 1880–2025 (1,024,202)

Helen in the US top 10, by year

Rank among girls' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Helen (1918).

Top-10 years by generation

Years Helen spent in the US top 10, by generation of the babies
Generation	Years in top 10	Best rank
Lost Generation	10 (1891–1900)	#2
Greatest Generation	27 (1901–1927)	#2
Silent Generation	8 (1928–1935)	#4

Every top-10 year

1891 · #9 1892 · #9 1893 · #6 1894 · #4 1895 · #3 1896 · #3 1897 · #3 1898 · #3 1899 · #3 1900 · #2 1901 · #2 1902 · #2 1903 · #2 1904 · #2 1905 · #2 1906 · #2 1907 · #2 1908 · #2 1909 · #2 1910 · #2 1911 · #2 1912 · #2 1913 · #2 1914 · #2 1915 · #2 1916 · #2 1917 · #2 1918 · #2 1919 · #2 1920 · #3 1921 · #3 1922 · #3 1923 · #3 1924 · #3 1925 · #4 1926 · #4 1927 · #4 1928 · #4 1929 · #4 1930 · #4 1931 · #6 1932 · #8 1933 · #8 1934 · #9 1935 · #10

Questions people ask

When was the name Helen most popular?

By number of babies, in 1918, when 36,148 girls were given the name. By rank, it reached #2 and spent 45 years in the top 10.

What generation is the name Helen?

Its peak year, 1918, falls in Greatest Generation (1901–1927). Its 45 top-10 years fall in: Lost Generation (10), Greatest Generation (27), Silent Generation (8).

How many people have been named Helen?

SSA counted 1,024,202 girls named Helen born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.

In the top 10 at the same time

Margaret 45 yrs Mary 45 yrs Ruth 39 yrs Elizabeth 34 yrs Dorothy 32 yrs Anna 30 yrs Mildred 24 yrs Marie 20 yrs

The Greatest Generation profile All names

Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Helen are alive today.