Helios

The name of the young Greek sun god, brother to the moon goddess Selene and the dawn goddess Eos, Helios is depicted as riding across the sky each day in a chariot pulled by four horses. A personification of the sun and an all-seeing observer, his name feels light and approachable — not too dissimilar to the likes of Hollis, Elias, and Ellis — or to its stylish Italian and Spanish form, Elio.

In Classical Greek, the name would be pronounced as HEH-LEE-OSS while in English, it's HEE-lee-oss. Currently in the French Top 400, spelled as Hélios, it may also be heard as EH-LYOS.

The figure of Helios notably appears in Homer's Odyssey, in which he asks Zeus to punish Odysseus's men after they killed and ate his sacred cattle, despite his warnings not to. Their last ship is destroyed and Odysseus is the lone survivor.

Helios first appeared in the US stats in the 2000s, and has seen more interest since the 2020s. Nearly 60 boys were given the name in a recent year: the highest number on record thus far.

Pronounced HEE-lee-us.

As of October 2026, Helios ranked #2367 in US births in 2025 SSA.