How popular is the baby name Helena in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Helena.

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Popularity of the baby name Helena


Posts that mention the name Helena

What gave the baby name Tovah a boost in the late 1970s?

Actress Tovah Feldshuh in the TV miniseries "Holocaust" (1978)
Tovah Feldshuh in “Holocaust

The name Tovah appeared for the first time in the U.S. baby name data in 1976. It saw its highest-ever usage several years later, in both 1979 and 1980:

  • 1981: 31 baby girls named Tovah
  • 1980: 37 baby girls named Tovah
  • 1979: 37 baby girls named Tovah
  • 1978: 31 baby girls named Tovah
  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: 6 baby girls named Tovah [debut]
  • 1975: unlisted

What was drawing attention to the name around that time?

Stage and screen actress Tovah Feldshuh, who began appearing on Broadway, on television, and in the movies (in that order) during the 1970s.

The name’s 1976 debut could be due to Feldshuh’s dozen appearances (as supporting character Martha McKee) on the popular daytime soap opera Ryan’s Hope from May to August of that year.

The name’s peak usage followed Feldshuh’s Emmy-nominated role as Helena Slomova, a Jewish resistance fighter from Prague, in the memorable TV miniseries Holocaust. The four-part miniseries was originally broadcast in April of 1978, and then rebroadcast in September of 1979.

Tovah Feldshuh was born Terri Sue Feldshuh in New York City in 1952. The first part of her stage name comes from her Hebrew name, Tovah, which is the Hebrew word for “good.” (The feminine form of the word/name can also be transcribed Tova. The masculine form is Tov.)

What are your thoughts on the name Tovah?

P.S. The director of the TV miniseries Holocaust, Marvin J. Chomsky, also co-directed the TV miniseries Roots (1977).

Sources: Tovah Feldshuh – Wikipedia, Holocaust (miniseries) – Wikipedia, SSA
Image: Screenshot of the miniseries Holocaust

Popular baby names in Croatia, 2022

Flag of Croatia
Flag of Croatia

Crescent-shaped Croatia is located on the Balkan peninsula. It shares land borders with five other countries: Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

Last year, Croatia welcomed 34,414 babies — 16,904 girls and 17,510 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Mia and Luka (yet again).

Here are Croatia’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Mia, 452 baby girls
  2. Lucija, 371
  3. Nika, 370
  4. Mila, 365
  5. Ema, 351
  6. Marta, 335
  7. Rita, 333
  8. Sara, 321
  9. Eva, 267
  10. Dora, 253
  11. Ana, 246 (tie)
  12. Elena, 246 (tie)
  13. Iva, 220
  14. Lea, 202
  15. Petra, 200
  16. Klara, 192 (tie)
  17. Tena, 192 (tie)
  18. Lara, 191
  19. Laura, 184
  20. Lana, 182
  21. Hana, 180
  22. Marija, 171
  23. Franka, 170
  24. Ena, 169
  25. Sofia, 159
  26. Leona, 158 (tie)
  27. Maša, 158 (tie)
  28. Una, 139
  29. Nikol, 133
  30. Emili, 130
  31. Magdalena, 128
  32. Lena, 125
  33. Vita, 124
  34. Tia, 121
  35. Tara, 120
  36. Katja, 117
  37. Nora, 110
  38. Karla, 108
  39. Helena, 103
  40. Bruna, 99
  41. Aurora, 98 (tie)
  42. Roza, 98 (tie)
  43. Iris, 96
  44. Cvita, 94 (tie) – a form of the Slovene name Cvetka, based on the Slovene word cvet, meaning “flower, blossom”
  45. Sofija, 94 (tie)
  46. Aria, 91
  47. Mara, 89
  48. Lota, 88
  49. Doris, 85 (tie)
  50. Maris, 85 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Luka, 774 baby boys
  2. Jakov, 478
  3. David, 474
  4. Petar, 427
  5. Ivan, 408
  6. Roko, 365 – a form of Rocco
  7. Mateo, 354
  8. Fran, 347
  9. Niko, 328
  10. Matej, 318
  11. Mihael, 312
  12. Josip, 306
  13. Toma, 305
  14. Leon, 293
  15. Lovro, 286
  16. Noa, 282
  17. Filip, 263
  18. Marko, 262
  19. Karlo, 259
  20. Vito, 258
  21. Teo, 256
  22. Ivano, 253
  23. Šimun, 252
  24. Borna, 247
  25. Jan, 229
  26. Lukas, 196
  27. Leo, 187
  28. Gabriel, 184
  29. Ante, 181
  30. Viktor, 170
  31. Nikola, 159
  32. Tin, 153
  33. Adrian, 146
  34. Bruno, 145 (tie)
  35. Liam, 145 (tie)
  36. Toni, 137
  37. Marin, 136
  38. Dominik, 134
  39. Rafael, 126
  40. Oliver, 122
  41. Noel, 114
  42. Emanuel, 111 (tie)
  43. Patrik, 111 (tie)
  44. Duje, 106 – a form of the Ancient Roman name Domnius, ultimately based on the Latin word dominus, meaning “lord, master”
  45. Erik, 102
  46. Maro, 100
  47. Antonio, 98 (tie)
  48. Lovre, 98 (tie)
  49. Vid, 96
  50. Franko, 88

Here’s a link to Croatia’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Statisticki prikaz – Ministarstvo pravosuda i uprave Republike Hrvatske (Document 27 [pdf] specifically), Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Civil ensign of Croatia (public domain)

Popular baby names in Austria, 2022

Flag of Austria
Flag of Austria

The country of Austria, home to nearly 9 million people, is located in Central Europe and shares a border with eight other countries (including Germany, Italy, and Switzerland).

Last year, Austria welcomed 82,627 babies — 40,060 girls and 42,567 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Maximilian.

Here are Austria’s top 25 girl names and top 25 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 659 baby girls
  2. Emilia, 632
  3. Marie, 625
  4. Mia, 593
  5. Anna, 589
  6. Sophia, 549
  7. Laura, 534
  8. Valentina, 525
  9. Lena, 518
  10. Johanna, 502
  11. Lea, 483
  12. Hannah, 467
  13. Leonie, 426
  14. Sophie, 421
  15. Lina, 410
  16. Luisa, 380
  17. Lara, 376
  18. Elena, 362
  19. Ella, 356
  20. Nora, 351
  21. Hanna, 318
  22. Olivia, 310
  23. Magdalena, 309
  24. Helena, 290
  25. Mila, 287

Boy Names

  1. Maximilian, 735 baby boys
  2. Felix, 722
  3. Paul, 708
  4. Jakob, 693
  5. Noah, 671
  6. Elias, 666
  7. David, 636
  8. Jonas, 629
  9. Leon, 616
  10. Lukas, 587
  11. Tobias, 560
  12. Leo, 498
  13. Matteo, 469
  14. Alexander, 468
  15. Fabian, 454
  16. Julian, 446
  17. Valentin, 429
  18. Moritz, 417
  19. Simon, 406
  20. Theo, 399
  21. Luca, 386
  22. Anton, 379
  23. Liam, 352
  24. Raphael, 348
  25. Samuel, 346

The top names in Austria in 2021 were Marie and Paul.

Sources: First names of newborns – Statistics Austria, Atlas der Vornamen – Statistics Austria, Demographic characteristics of newborns – Statistics Austria

Image: Adapted from Flag of Austria (public domain)

Popular baby names in Poland, 2022

Flag of Poland
Flag of Poland

The country of Poland is located in Central Europe and shares a border with seven other countries (including Russia, Germany, and Slovakia).

Last year, Poland welcomed approximately 305,000 babies — 290,000 of which were born to Polish parents and 15,000 of which were born to non-Polish parents (many of them Ukrainian refugees).

What were the most popular names among all these babies? Zofia and Antoni.

Here are Poland’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Zofia, 5,714 baby girls
  2. Zuzanna, 5,558
  3. Hanna, 5,261
  4. Laura, 5,095
  5. Maja, 4,979
  6. Julia, 4,936
  7. Oliwia, 4,440
  8. Alicja, 4,261
  9. Pola, 4,087
  10. Lena, 3,811
  11. Maria, 3,732
  12. Emilia, 3,188
  13. Amelia, 3,143
  14. Antonina,3,133
  15. Wiktoria, 3,037
  16. Liliana, 2,860
  17. Iga, 2,847 – a diminutive of either Jadwiga or Ignacja
  18. Michalina, 2,749
  19. Marcelina, 2,720
  20. Helena, 2,680
  21. Klara, 2,523
  22. Aleksandra, 2,370
  23. Gabriela, 2,220
  24. Anna, 1,965
  25. Kornelia, 1,927
  26. Lucja, 1,862
  27. Blanka, 1,853
  28. Nela, 1,840
  29. Nadia, 1,792
  30. Natalia, 1,734
  31. Jagoda, 1,554
  32. Lilianna, 1,472
  33. Milena, 1,467
  34. Anastazja, 1,297
  35. Mia, 1,217
  36. Kaja, 1,213
  37. Nikola, 1,109
  38. Nina, 1,102
  39. Weronika, 1,081
  40. Róza, 1,074
  41. Rozalia, 1,072
  42. Aniela, 1,039
  43. Sara, 998
  44. Barbara, 993
  45. Matylda, 968
  46. Karolina, 887
  47. Martyna, 840
  48. Liwia, 821
  49. Agata, 811
  50. Eliza, 756

Boy Names

  1. Antoni, 6,670 baby boys
  2. Jan, 6,341
  3. Aleksander, 6,201
  4. Nikodem, 6,155
  5. Franciszek, 5,696
  6. Jakub, 5,535
  7. Leon, 5,091
  8. Mikolaj, 4,499
  9. Stanislaw, 4,265
  10. Filip, 4,107
  11. Ignacy, 4,086
  12. Szymon, 4,069
  13. Wojciech, 3,539
  14. Adam, 3,348
  15. Kacper, 3,251
  16. Tymon, 3,164
  17. Marcel, 3,081
  18. Maksymilian, 3,055
  19. Michal, 2,758
  20. Wiktor, 2,709
  21. Oliwier, 2,551
  22. Tymoteusz, 2,278
  23. Milosz, 2,234
  24. Igor, 2,226
  25. Julian, 2,040
  26. Piotr, 1,987
  27. Oskar, 1,932
  28. Gabriel, 1,712
  29. Dawid, 1,489
  30. Krzysztof, 1,352
  31. Bartosz, 1,315
  32. Dominik, 1,271
  33. Natan, 1,222
  34. Bruno, 1,214
  35. Mateusz, 1,209
  36. Hubert, 1,152
  37. Karol, 1,141
  38. Alan, 1,058
  39. Fabian, 1,014
  40. Tomasz, 977
  41. Maciej, 975
  42. Henryk, 948
  43. Cezary, 892 (tie)
  44. Tadeusz, 892 (tie)
  45. Artur, 858
  46. Ksawery, 849 – a form of Xavier
  47. Pawel, 753
  48. Milan, 727
  49. Daniel, 717
  50. Kazimierz, 674 (tie)
  51. Kuba, 674 (tie)

(Because L‘s with a stroke don’t render properly on my site, you’ll have to imagine they exist in several of the above: the girl name Lucja and the boy names Mikolaj, Stanislaw, Michal, Milosz, and Pawel.)

Poland’s data goes all the way down to names with just two instances of usage, so here’s a sampling of the rare baby names at the opposite end of the spectrum:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Aglaja, Beyza, Celestyna, Dasza, Esenia, Freyja, Harper, Illia, Jaga, Koralia, Lilibet, Melanija, Nurana, Oktavia, Penelope, Radochna, Sviatoslava, Tekla, Ustina, Vasylisa, Yeseniya, ZytaAffan, Bronislav, Caspian, Demjan, Elisey, Florin, Gajusz, Henrik, Igo, Jarogniew, Klimek, Lian, Matwej, Neo, Przemek, Rishi, Salwador, Timo, Vadzim, Witosz, Yuri, Zorian

The two Lilibets were likely named with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter Lilibet Diana (b. 2021) in mind.

Finally, here are Poland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Imiona nadawane dzieciom w Polsce – Otwarte Dane, Poland’s birth rate in decline shows study – The First News, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Poland (public domain)