Helen
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name borrowed from English.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Helen (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Helen has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2018. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 14 |
| 1999 | 11 |
| 2000 | 15 |
| 2001 | 10 |
| 2002 | 10 |
| 2003 | 12 |
| 2004 | 10 |
| 2005 | 7 |
| 2006 | 4 |
| 2007 | 9 |
| 2008 | 8 |
| 2009 | 9 |
| 2010 | 6 |
| 2011 | 11 |
| 2012 | 8 |
| 2013 | 11 |
| 2014 | 10 |
| 2015 | 10 |
| 2016 | 12 |
| 2017 | 10 |
| 2018 | 20 |
| 2019 | 14 |
| 2020 | 16 |
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2022 | 13 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 8,104 |
| 2000 | 8,147 |
| 2001 | 8,168 |
| 2002 | 8,220 |
| 2003 | 8,308 |
| 2004 | 8,348 |
| 2005 | 8,320 |
| 2006 | 8,346 |
| 2007 | 8,382 |
| 2008 | 8,479 |
| 2009 | 8,505 |
| 2010 | 8,529 |
| 2011 | 8,542 |
| 2012 | 8,558 |
| 2013 | 8,606 |
| 2014 | 8,638 |
| 2015 | 8,695 |
| 2016 | 8,766 |
| 2017 | 8,821 |
| 2018 | 8,865 |
| 2019 | 8,885 |
| 2020 | 8,894 |
Helen in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Helen.Hi! My name is Helen.
- Helen bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Helen lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Jag ska fika med Helen i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Helen this afternoon.
- Helens mamma är lärare.Helen's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Helens mamma is Helen's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Helen
How do you pronounce Helen in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Helen from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Helen mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name borrowed from English.
How popular is Helen in Sweden?
13 babies were named Helen in 2022. In 2020, 8,894 people in Sweden had Helen as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2018 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.