Helen or Helena

[blondie72]

My husband Prefers the first... I'm not so sure, what do you think?

I prefer Helena (my great grandmother's name). But Helen is nice enough.

I like them both, assuming "hell-enn-ah" not "hell-ay-na".

We would use Helen as it's a family name, but that's the only thing.

Dd was nearly a Helena but I changed my mind at the last minute to something completely different. Now I prefer Helen - too many long fussy names around at the moment. Helen will be more unusual.

Helena

Helen is nice, but Helena is beautiful.

I know an absolute b**ch called Helen but before I met her I liked the name. prefer to Helena definitely

I'm a Helen. Can't say I've ever had feedback on my name either way, although a few of the older generation have made the reference to Helen of Troy which is always nice. Sadly our similarities end with the name lol

I prefer Helen but thats because I know 5 girls with the name Helena(aged 9-newborn). I only know 1 Helen and she is an adult.

Helena is a bit of a pronounciation minefield:

Hell - en -ah
Hell - ay - nah
Hell - eee - nah

Helen on the other hand is deliciously unadorned sounding. I went to school with lots of Helens but you don't often hear it on littlies these days. A shame as it is a lovely, classical name.

Go for Helen.

Helen - so classy and under used

I have never heard Helena pronounced any other way than Hel-en-ah!

I like then both, but I prefer Helena (pronounced in these parts as HELL-en-ah).

Depends where you live. In parts of Scotland you'd be "Nell" or "Nellie" before you could blink!

Helena proncounced Helena is nice but quite 'trendy'.

Helen is more classic, timeless and very underused now. No pronunciation issues either. So I'd say Helen!

Definitely Helena pronounced 'Hell-eena'.

Helen to me reminds me of the Sharon, Karen, Tracy era.

Helen

Helena - it's so much more beautiful and gives options for the future (in terms of both pronunciation and dropping the a if necessary)

say Helena to the registrar and leave it to her to make a mistake
That's how Carl became Earl!

Just wait for baby to be born, try out both for a day or so, see which feels right then! You have 42 days to register the birth and you might realize she is neither, but a Rosamund or a Sophia!

We decided on Michael William for our 3rd son, told everyone, had cards sent to us with that name, but it felt wrong somehow, like something's missing. I actually cried as I told DH that I had changed my mind. He said don't worry about silly cards, so we changed it last minute to Michael Jacob and that was perfect for him/us!

My advice is to wait and see

I'm a Helen and I must admit I'm not a fan. It seems that in TV or books, Helen is usually someone who's a bit of a doormat, or the wife who's been cheated on, etc. I hasten to add that I'm not a bit like that!
My NN is Nell - which I quite like actually and much prefer to Helen, although it's only my Dad and my sis who really use it now.

I'm a Helen and have always found it ok but a bit boring. I much prefer the name Helena. I don't know any young children called Helen so it will be quite unusual without being so different people can't pronounce/spell it properly. I always think those are good traits in a name (pity I didn't follow them myself).

It's pronounced
HELL - IN - HERE

From experience.

I used to prefer Helena but now, having met so many little Helenas, Isabellas etc, I prefer the simplicity of Helen.

Helena

Helena by a long way, love the name but not so keen on Helen.

Love Helen. The only Helena I know is horrible though so that may have swayed me. I also prefer Ellen to Eleanor and Elena, Isabel to Isabella, so I think I prefer the simpler variations.