Male version of Helen/Helena/Eleni?

General Name Discussion
1

[name_m]Hi[/name_m],

My best friend’s name was [name_f]Helen[/name_f], and have always wanted to use her name (or variant, e.g. [name_f]Helena[/name_f]) as she died when we were teenagers. However, I am looking for a male version in case we don’t have a girl. Only able to have the one child so unfortunately no hoping for a second if it is a boy.

I was hoping there would be a direct known male version, or at least the original Greek ([name_f]Eleni[/name_f]) would have a male version but so far no ideas have come up.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks!
E

1 Like
2

I believe it’s Helenus. In the Trojan myth it’s the name of [name_f]Cassandra[/name_f]'s twin brother. The Modern Greek form appears to be Elenos.

3

There were a few male characters in Greek mythology called Helenus.
Helenus of Troy - Wikipedia

The same mythological figure in Italian wikipedia appears to be called Eleno.

Also apparently Heleno and Eleno are used in Portuguese speaking areas, but it seems to be fairly obscure.

4

[name_m]Just[/name_m] going to throw some other indirect ideas out there…

Maybe a similar sounding first name like [name_m]Holden[/name_m] or [name_m]Harlen[/name_m]?

Or maybe a middle name like [name_m]Alan[/name_m]/[name_m]Allen[/name_m] with a first name starting with H. (H. [name_m]Allen[/name_m] Lastname?)

Maybe a name that combines part of her first name and middle or last name? For example, DH and I were trying to figure out how to honor a [name_f]Beth[/name_f] [name_f]Ann[/name_f] in a boy way in case we only have boys and we came up with [name_m]Ethan[/name_m] ([name_f]Beth[/name_f] [name_f]Ann[/name_f] smushed together without the first “B” and the final “n”) which we thought was pretty clever :slight_smile: Maybe something similar works for [name_f]Helen[/name_f]?

5

My first thought was [name_m]Helios[/name_m].

6

A few suggestions:

From the same root, there’s Elior or Leor.

Based on a few famous Helens-- what about [name_m]Troy[/name_m] or [name_m]Keller[/name_m]?

Since it means shining light, what about a boy name with the same or similar meaning? [name_m]Lucian[/name_m], [name_m]Lucas[/name_m], [name_m]Luke[/name_m], [name_m]Abner[/name_m], [name_m]Kiran[/name_m], [name_m]Oran[/name_m], [name_m]Uriel[/name_m], Usra, [name_m]Zain[/name_m], [name_m]Zohar[/name_m], [name_m]Raiden[/name_m], [name_m]Apollo[/name_m], [name_m]Argus[/name_m], [name_m]Barak[/name_m], [name_f]Eirian[/name_f], [name_m]Gilbert[/name_m], Navdeep, [name_u]Nur[/name_u], Phaedrus, [name_m]Robert[/name_m]

Lastly, some other H names or names starting with [name_f]El[/name_f]-- [name_m]Eli[/name_m], [name_u]Elias[/name_u], [name_m]Eleazar[/name_m], [name_u]Elliot[/name_u], [name_m]Hector[/name_m], [name_m]Harold[/name_m], [name_m]Hamish[/name_m], [name_m]Horatio[/name_m], [name_m]Hugo[/name_m], [name_m]Hugh[/name_m], [name_m]Humphrey[/name_m], [name_m]Howell[/name_m], [name_u]Howard[/name_u], [name_m]Hill[/name_m], [name_u]Hollis[/name_u]

7

[name_m]Hi[/name_m], so I am Greek. [name_f]My[/name_f] mothers name is [name_f]Eleni[/name_f] and she is named after her grandmother [name_f]Eleni[/name_f]. Traditionally Greek names have male and female versions of the same name because we traditionally name the first born after the fathers father, second born after the mothers father, third born after the fathers mother, fourth born after the mothers mother. So in order to follow this tradition, most names have a masculine and feminine version. In this case, the boy/male version of [name_f]Eleni[/name_f] can be one of two names:

Lenios : Λενιος
Elenios: Ελενιος

[name_f]My[/name_f] cousin was named Lenios after his grandmother. Other examples are [name_u]Maria[/name_u] : [name_m]Marios[/name_m] … [name_f]Christina[/name_f] : Christos… [name_f]Angela[/name_f] : Angelos… a lot of the male names end -os