# Helfand (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/helfand/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Yiddish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Yiddish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 564 |
| US rank (2010) | 39,052 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 547,421 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.5% (567 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Gelfand, Gelfond, Helfant |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish העלפֿאַנד (helfand, “elephant”), a Jewish Ashkenazi surname.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Helfand in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 96% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.0% |

## Similar surnames

Halpin, Holbein.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.