See the results of this poll: If you could only pick one which would it be?
Respondents: 33 (This poll is closed)
- Helena : 19 (58%)
- Eleanor: 14 (42%)
I prefer [name]Helena[/name]. It’s gorgeous! I personally am not a big fan of [name]Eleanor[/name].
While I love [name]Eleanor[/name], I see it a LOT and it’s been climbing the charts for several years now. I like [name]Helena[/name] equally and it just hasn’t hit the same popularity as [name]Eleanor[/name].
[name]Helena[/name]! I don’t understand the popularity of [name]Eleanor[/name]…I still consider it an old-lady name.
[name]Helena[/name]! It’s my favorite name for a girl. I find it to be classy, elegant, timeless, feminine, and a tad offbeat, all without being too heavy or frilly. Plus it honors my great-grandmother [name]Helen[/name], who is a truly lovely woman. 
I like [name]Eleanor[/name] better. [name]Helena[/name] isn’t awful, but I think it’s too old-fashioned for 2012, plus I don’t think it’d work very well for a young child/preteen/teenager. [name]Eleanor[/name] is more of a classic, timeless name that works for every age.
I love [name]Helena[/name]. But only when pronounced “HELL-enah” rather than “Huh-[name]LAY[/name]-nah.” It’s so classically beautiful, a name someone can really inhabit. [name]Eleanor[/name] has a great sound too, but it feels a little quaint to me compared to [name]Helena[/name]. On the other hand, [name]Eleanor[/name] could always be made more glamorous by shortening to [name]Lenore[/name], and [name]Eleanor[/name] has more nickname possibilities than [name]Helena[/name]. Really, you can’t make a bad choice with these two names.
I picked [name]Eleanor[/name], because that’s my mom’s name. I’m biased there. [name]Helena[/name] is pretty, too. A nice compromise might be [name]Elena[/name]. I agree with those posters who say that there’s no wrong choice here.
[name]Helena[/name] hands down!!! Gorgeous!!! Plus I’m terribly sick of every little girl having an [name]El[/name] name.
I picked [name]Helena[/name]. I say [name]Helen[/name]-uh, not Huh-lay-nuh or Huh-lee-nuh. So while I like [name]Helena[/name] better, I think [name]Eleanor[/name] gets points for having no pronunciation problems…and loads more nickname potential.
[name]Helena[/name]! It’s sounds a bit younger then eleanor, which i have always seen as a too serious, frumpy old librarian sort of name, though it does have a strong history which is probably one reason that makes it such a popular choice. However, i just cannot picture a little girl with that name. I think helena is so pretty!
I like both names. I chose [name]Eleanor[/name] though because [name]Helena[/name] has quite a few pronunciations and I see that as a problem.