Comments (Meaning / History Only)

According to another Greek myth Leda was not her mother, but the goddess Nemesis. Helen means 'torch' or 'the shining one'. The name is of the same origin as Helios (sun) and Selene (moon).
The first use of the name Helen was the male Greek, who was son of Deucalion (Zeus). Hellas or Greece is named after him, this can be found in the beginning of Thucydides `History of the Peloponesian War` p36. Further than this apparently the Greek `hel` may mean to capture, like the slaves the Helots and also possibly the `capture` of Helen of Troy.
Its meaning can also be 'shining.'
"Is this the face that launched a thousand ships and set afire the topless towers of Illium?" Helen of Troy was actually a Greek. She was not kidnapped by Paris, but went with him willingly. Her birth was bizarre: Zeus came to Leda in the form of a Swan, and Leda later laid two eggs. Each contained twins, and each egg held one child of her husband and one of the god, Zeus. Castor and Pollux were the boys hatched from one egg (one mortal, one demigod), and Helen and Clytemnestra (the mortal sister) were the girls hatched from the other. Helen and her sister married brothers--both Greek kings. Menelaus was Helen's husband, and Clytemnestra was married to Agamemnon. Both sisters have interesting stories that are far too long for this comment, but at least Helen has the more attractive name for modern usage. Helen of Troy was not the most honorable woman, but so many women in history and literature since have given this name a lot of power.(My middle name is Ellen. Same thing, really.)
Helen means a torch.

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