Helen definition

From , possibly connected with .

1602 William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act I, Scene I

Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,

When with your blood you daily paint her thus.
1928 Agatha Christie, The Mystery of the Blue Train

"Is her name Ellen or Helen, Miss Viner? I thought - "

Miss Viner closed her eyes.

"I can sound my h's, dear, as well as anyone, but Helen is not a suitable name for a servant. I don't know what the mothers in the lower classes are coming to nowadays."
1993 Oscar Hijuelos, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien, ISBN 0-14-023028-9, page 6:

in 1910 she brought Helen into the world, the little female, or "mujercita", as her mother called all the babies, naming her after the glittery label on a facial ointment, The Helen of Troy Beauty Pomade, said to eradicate wrinkles, to soften and add a youthful glow to the user's skin - a fortuitous choice because, of all the sisters, she would be the most beautiful and, never growing old, would always possess the face of a winsome adolescent beauty.
2003 Deborah Crombie, A Share in Death, HarperCollins, ISBN 0060534389, page 189

Gemma followed her, thinking that Helen seemed rather an old-fashioned and elegant name for this rumpled young mother.

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