Helga

HEL-ga, HEL-yah

Scandinavian

"holy, blessed"

Helga Origin and Meaning

The name Helga is a girl's name of Scandinavian origin meaning "holy, blessed".

A traditional Nordic name, Helga was extremely popular throughout Scandinavia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In Germany, it was a Top 10 pick from 1924 to 1943. And it still ranks in the Icelandic Top 50 today.

In the English-speaking world, Helga has been associated with a series of unfortunate characters in popular culture, from the wife of Hägar the Horrible in the comic strip of the same name, to Helga Pataki from the kids' TV show Hey Arnold!. But more recent, more positive Helgas – like Helga Hufflepuff, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, and a character in the drama series Vikings – could redeem the name.

Helga's Russian cognate, Olga, is a classic there, and still ranks in the Russian Top 50 today.

Helga Rank in US Top 1000

# 986 in the US

Popularity of the name Helga

• 1544 Nameberry 2025
• 38 Iceland 2024

20 Names Similar to Helga

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Helga.

• Olga
• Eunice
• Antionette
• Lauretta
• Irma
• Berenice
• Glenda
• Yolanda
• Thérèse
• Sonya
• Gerda
• Hedwig
• Claudine
• Jeanne
• Margarita
• Claudette
• Phyllis
• Darlene
• Rhoda
• Griselda

Famous People Named Helga

• Helga Niessen Masthoff German tennis player
• Helga Liné (born Helga Lina Stern) German,born Portuguese,Spanish actress
• Helga Mathilde Meyer German opera singer and mother of Sandra Bullock
• Helga Frier Danish actress
• Helga Krapf German,Filipina actress
• Helga Hörz German philosopher
• Helga Pedersen Norwegian politician
• Helga Zepp LaRouche, German political activist; wife of Lyndon LaRouche
• Helga Seidler German runner
• Helga Feddersen German actress
• Helga Dernesch Austrian operatic soprano
• Helga Anders Austrian actress
• Helga Testorf German model for painter Andrew Wyeth
• Helga Erika Ivertowski Hörz German philosopher and feminist
• Helga Haase German speedskater
• Helga von Cramm German,Swiss painter
• Sharon Helga Corr Irish singer of band The Corrs

The name Helga in Pop Culture

• Helga Hufflepuff character in the Harry Potter series
• Helga Geraldine Pataki character on animated series "Hey Arnold!"
• Helga Phugly character in animated series "The Oblongs"
• Helga a character in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Marsh King's Daughter"
• Helga wife of Hägar the Horrible in the newspaper comic strip
• Helga Sinclair mercenary in Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• Helga character in video game Suikoden IV
• Helga Geerhart character on British TV series 'Allo 'Allo!
• Helga Von Guggen character in animated television series Totally Spies
• Helga character in fighting video game Human Killing Machine
• Helga von Hinten character in Taboo (TV Series), played by Franka Potente

International Variations of the name Helga

• Helge Norwegian
• Helje Danish