See the results of this poll: Helen or Helena?
Respondents: 57 (This poll is closed)
- Helen Bird : 4 (7%)
- Helena Bird: 53 (93%)
I say hel-en-ah more often than not.
[name]Helen[/name] feels dated for me, I don’t know any under 40, but [name]Helena[/name] feels fresh, sophisticated and attractive! I picture a very classy woman with this name!
I love [name]Helena[/name]! I pronounce it HEL-en-ah, but I do know a lot of people who say hel-EE-nah or hel-AY-nah.
I love the Shakespearian connect with [name]Helena[/name]; I say it as HEL-en-a.
[name]Helen[/name] is really dated and a tad frumpy. [name]Helena[/name] is very pretty though 
I would pronounce it Hel-en-ah.
I typically prefer [name]Helen[/name], but [name]Helena[/name] [name]Bird[/name] sounds better to me
I pronounce [name]Helena[/name] Hel-ay-na, but I can do Hel-en-a if I know thats how they say it. Hel-ee-na feels odd to me.
I like [name]Helena[/name] [name]Bird[/name] sounds very vintage and quirky. I would pronounce it He-lay-na, but like @lineska said, I would not have any problem pronouncing it as Hel-en-uh if that is what the family preferred.
Thanks, everyone. [name]Helen[/name] is my great-grandmother’s name and she’s a person I would love to honor. [name]Bird[/name] is another name with family significance. I wanted to pair them together, but [name]Helen[/name] [name]Bird[/name] didn’t sound quite right so I turned to [name]Helena[/name]. [name]Glad[/name] to see that [name]Helena[/name] is the preferred form.
I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Helen[/name] in the MN spot, but prefer [name]Helena[/name] as FN.
[name]Helena[/name] [name]Bird[/name] is adorable! I absolutely love it. I say hel-en-ah, too. [name]Helena[/name] feels both vintage and fresh, and she has a lot of usable, friendly, pretty nns (my favorite being [name]Leni[/name], but I think [name]Nell[/name], [name]Lena[/name], and [name]Ella[/name]/[name]Elle[/name] are lovely, as well). I want to like [name]Helen[/name], since I love [name]Helena[/name], but [name]Helen[/name] just doesn’t ever seem to measure up to me. I agree that [name]Helena[/name] [name]Bird[/name] sounds better than [name]Helen[/name] [name]Bird[/name], too, although neither is bad.
Good luck!
My daughters name is [name]Helena[/name], pronounced “huh-[name]LAY[/name]-na”. We like that it’s beautiful and unique without being unfamiliar. I think [name]Helena[/name] [name]Bird[/name] is an absolutely lovely name!
[name]Helena[/name] all the way! [name]Helen[/name] sounds really dated.
I voted for [name]Helena[/name] and pronounce it Hel-ay-na.
I say Hell een ah and may say Hell ay nah but never Hell en ah
Our daughter is [name]Helena[/name] (also with a B name in the middle slot!) and we used it to honor a [name]Helen[/name] as well. (I actually preferred [name]Helen[/name], but my husband didn’t like it.) We pronounce it HEL-en-ah, but we get a lot of people saying hel-AY-na, too. (We live in the suburbs outside NYC.) We rarely get hel-EE-na, but it happens once in a while. My advice to people considering [name]Helena[/name] is that if you really hate one of the pronunciations you shouldn’t use it because really people do use all three. (Personally, I think of the HEL-en-ah pronunciation as the “American” one because of the city in [name]Montana[/name], but maybe that’s just my perception.)
I say [name]Helen[/name]-uh…in fact I recently met a little Huh-lay-nuh & I have to remember to say it this way!
I prefer [name]Helen[/name], but [name]Helena[/name] definitely sounds better with [name]Bird[/name].
I chose [name]Helena[/name] as well. It’s a beautiful name and a great way to honor a beloved relative. Personally, I pronounce it he-lay-nuh, like the My Chemical [name]Romance[/name] song. 