# Helga (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/helga/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Norse |
| Meaning | “holy” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɛlɡə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 2,209 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 2,209 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From Old Norse Helga (“holy”), a pre-Christian term, feminine form of Helgi. Doublet of Olga.

## What it means

Helga is grouped under holy.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 19 | 3,388 |
| 1974 | 13 | 4,549 |
| 1975 | 15 | 4,219 |
| 1976 | 14 | 4,438 |
| 1977 | 14 | 4,743 |
| 1978 | 14 | 4,769 |
| 1979 | 12 | 5,534 |
| 1980 | 7 | 8,453 |
| 1982 | 7 | 8,546 |
| 1984 | 10 | 6,455 |
| 1988 | 5 | 12,475 |
| 1990 | 5 | 13,766 |
| 1991 | 5 | 13,946 |
| 1992 | 6 | 12,310 |
| 2020 | 5 | 16,004 |

## In other languages

- Danish: Helga
- Finnish: Helka
- French: Helga
- German: Helga
- Greek: Όλγα
- Hungarian: Helga
- Icelandic: Helga
- Latvian: Elga
- Portuguese: Helga
- Russian: О́льга
- Swedish: Helga

## People named Helga

- Helga Seidler, East German sprinter
- Helga Mees, German fencer (1937-2014)
- Helga Radtke, German long jumper
- Helga Deen, author of a diary, discovered in 2004
- Helga Vlahović, Croatian journalist, producer, and television personality (1945–2012)
- Helga M. Novak, German-Icelandic writer (1935-2013)
- Helga Anders, Austrian television actress (1948–1986)
- Helga Schmid, German diplomat
- Helga Stevens, Belgian politician
- Helga Hošková-Weissová, Czech artist and Holocaust survivor (b. 1929)
- Helga Lindner, East German swimmer (1951–2021)
- Helga Nowotny, Austrian sociologist

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.