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I like it way better than Helen, and it has a feminine eccentric vibe. Overall nice name.

I've only known one, and she pronounced it Hel-

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I've only known one, and she pronounced it Hel-EEN-ah. I'm always inclined to put "Aunt" before it, as she was the aunt of two sisters who were my friends.
(her sister, my friends' mother, was named Marion.not that I called her that, I called her Mrs. Lastname, as was usual.)
Where I live now, Helene is rarely used alone, it's mostly Marie-Helene.

I agree with you that Huh-lay-huh isn't very appealing but Helen-ah is lovely. I probably wouldn't use it as a first name because of the pronunciation issues, but I'd seriously consider it in the middle as it's also a family name.

I tend to picture marble when I see it.

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It's conventionally pretty, but I don't connect to it at all.

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I'd prefer Helen to hel-en-uh and Elaine to huh-lay-nuh.

It’s one of my favourites, and one of the only girls names that hasn’t been vetoed by my husband! I pronounce it Helen-uh which is the usual pronunciation here.

It hasn't appealed to me, because I've been saying Heh-LAY-nuh, like a huffy Elena, and the Montana city prn (HEL-uh-nuh) sounds slumpy and blurry, the middle syllable almost drops out sometimes. If I and everyone around me all spoke like a Brit and said HEL-enna, I might like it a lot more.

It can also be said Huh-LEE-nuh, which is my favourite pronunciation. Second favourite is Huh-LAY-nuh.

It’s one of my favourites and was on our shortlist for our daughter.

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I pronounce it Helen-uh.

I think it is pretty. I like Elena, pronounced El-eh-nuh more then Helena but Helena is a nice name as well as Helene and I also prefer it to Helen or Ellen.

Meh. Don't hate, don't love. I prefer Helene to Helena.

That's how they pronounce the city in Montana.
But aside from that I never know how it's supposed to be pronounced, and that right there is a deal-breaker for a name. Same with Lucia, and I actually like one pronunciation of that one.
So no, I'm no fan of Helena. I like Elena a lot though.

I like it. Sound, meaning, history... all great. But I could never use it myself. All I hear is “Hell in a Cell”, a type of WWE wrestling match.

This message was edited 1/23/2019, 5:47 AM

I love Helena! The only reason I never truly considered using it is because I love the Helen-uh pronunciation but don't care much for the huh-LAY-na pronunciation. I know it could be easily corrected if someone said it wrong, I mean, I have to correct people on the pronunciation of my daughter's name all the time. But I dislike the second pronunciation enough that the name, while still usually in my top 10, was never a true contender.

One of my favourites.

I'm really only familiar with the helen-uh pronunciation. I like it, and would even consider using it. It fits with my other favorites - Julia, Nina, Eleanor.