nicks for Helen

[beet2]

I'm thinking about calling my baby Helen, but I'm not sure about possible nick names. Can you tell me what your (UK) gut reactions are to Nellie/Nelly (elephant?), Nell, Hen, Henny, Len (chalet school?), Lenny (55-year old male casino entertainer?), Elle...

I know Hattie is usually associated with Harriet or Henrietta, but would it be strange to use it for Helen?

Which nick do you think sounds most "old aristocracy", or too much so?

beet2 good choice ;) Helen seemed to have a heyday in the 70s and then be superseded by Eleanor. Hellie or Mel.

My very lovely friend is Leni to our group of friends and Hel to others

Just Helen is lovely. Bell is gorgeous. I really like Lennie/ Leni ( wouldn't spell it Lenny, too masculine) . Not mad on Nelly or Hen and suspect the occasional Hels may be inevitable...

Lovely name.

I'm a Helen. Men always seem to shorten it to H. Otherwise just Helen.

N back
Bells
'H'

Helena nice

Another Helen checking in. I am sometimes 'H', one friend calls me Len which I really like. I really dislike being called 'Hel' and will ask people not to call me that. Most people go with the full name. As a child I was desperate to change my name to Zoe or Sophie (like the cool kids at school) but as an adult I like my name.

Helly

I once met someone called Helenka. I think she was Polish.

Hen, Hel, Hells, Helly, Helly Belly, Hells Bells, Nell, Nelly, Copter (as in Helicopter ), H.
My name's not really Doris

Oh and my DM used to call me Haalin because she couldn't pronounce it and my DA used to call me Helin. DF just used to call me Fanny .

I know many Helens and they're all known as Helen. Occasionally one might get called 'Hels', however I have no idea if there is an accepted nickname for Helen. Much prefer the name Helena tbh.

Nell is the shortening I'm familiar with.

Helen is a cracking name and doesn't need a nickname

I'm a Helen - Helen mostly but "H" to work friends (they started that, nothing to do with me!). Parents and big sis have always called me Nell...I used to hate that, but love it now

I don't think Helen is the kind of name that usually gets shortened. Any Helen I've ever known has used her full name.
It's a beautiful name by the way.

Can't stand 'haytch/haitch' as a nick name - it's aitch for gods sake, no initial H, for all the irony involved!

My gran is Helen and it's never shortened. Well, my mum refers to her as "Nelly" in a nasty voice but wouldn't dare say it to her face

I'm a helen, and I wish I had thought of some of these lovely nicknames earlier. I love nell and leni. I was "smelly" (smelly helly) quite a lot as a child, or hel, but I always disliked my name, and now have another nickname which is completely unconnected to Helen. I like H as a nickname too, like Aitch on here.

I'm a Helen. As a child I was mostly Nell or Nelly of my family wanted to shorten it (which I hate, but they felt bad because my brother had loads of nicknames); as an adult I'm often H or Hels or sometimes Len.

The one thing I really matter is that there are a surprising number of people in the world who pronounce Helen as 'Hellin'.

Oops! Really mind!

Nell is fabulous.

I am a Helen. Family sometimes call me Mel but otherwise it's just Helen, Hels, Bells or Hezza. You don't come across many children with my name, I don't think I have met any. I think my mum liked the fact you couldn't really shorten it. It's not like it takes long to say.

I'm a Helen and never get shortened. (despite my username!)

I'm another Helen and am generally just that, though to close family I'm Helly (as you can guess from my username) I like my name - always pronounced and spelled correctly, and I don't think associated with a particular era.