How Many People Are Named Helen Hayes?
There are approximately 112 people named Helen Hayes living in the United States today. That makes this name combination uncommon, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 3,060,307 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Helen with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Hayes. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census background data where it is available.
Estimated People with This Name
112
1 in 3,060,307 Americans
Combination Rarity
Uncommon
First Name
View full profileHelen
Last Name
View full profileHayes
Helen: Popularity Over Time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Helen. The peak year was 1918 with 36,228 births. The average person named Helen today is 66 years old.
Ancestry of the First Name Helen
In the 2020 Census, the first name Helen was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (72.43%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (10.88%) and Asian and Pacific Islander (7.16%).
These percentages describe the people who had the first name Helen in the 2020 Census. They do not tell you the deeper origin or meaning of the name itself.
Read this as a snapshot of who already had the name in 2020, not as a trend line. The SSA chart above is still the better way to see how Helen rose or fell over time.
Ancestry of the Hayes Surname
The surname Hayes was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White in the 2020 Census.
This is a self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people who had the surname Hayes in the published Census surname tables. It gives useful context around who was recorded with the name, but it does not tell the full family history of every Boone line.
How we calculated this
The first name "Helen" has an estimated frequency of 0.0525% among living Americans, based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024 adjusted for mortality using CDC 2023 life tables.
The surname "Hayes" appears at a rate of 62.38 per 100,000 people in the 2020 U.S. Census.
We do not use the Census first-name snapshot for the main estimate because it is only published once every 10 years. The latest public first-name Census file is from 2020, which is already 6 years old. SSA birth records plus CDC survival data give a better current estimate of how many people with the first name Helen are likely to be alive now.
Multiplying these frequencies against the U.S. population of ~343 million gives 112 estimated people. This assumes first names and last names are statistically independent. Full methodology.
Other people named Helen
Other people with the surname Hayes
Helen Hayes: Questions and Answers
How many people are named Helen Hayes?
We estimate approximately 112 people named Helen Hayes are alive in the United States today. The first name Helen is shared by 179,926 Americans, and the surname Hayes is shared by 213,801.
How rare is the name Helen Hayes?
This name combination is classified as Uncommon, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 3,060,307 Americans. The first name Helen is common and the surname Hayes is common.
Is Helen a male or female name?
Helen is predominantly female, with 0.3% of bearers being male and 99.7% female. It peaked in popularity in 1918 and the average bearer today is 66 years old.
What does the Census say about the first name Helen?
In the 2020 Census, the first name Helen was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (72.43%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (10.88%) and Asian and Pacific Islander (7.16%). These percentages describe the people who had the name in the 2020 Census, not the deeper origin of the name itself.
Where does this data come from?
First name data comes from the Social Security Administration (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables. When available, first-name Census background data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau first-name tables. Surname data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Full methodology.
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