Helen is from the Greek Helénē — possibly from helénē (torch, bright). **Helen of Troy** — daughter of Leda and Zeus, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, whose **abduction by the Trojan prince Paris launched the Trojan War, "the face that launched a thousand ships."** **Helen Keller (1880-1968)** — the **deaf-blind American author and activist who graduated from Radcliffe College and became a leading 20th-century lecturer on disability rights, socialism, and women's suffrage**. **Helen Mirren** (Oscar-winning actress), **Helen Clark** (NZ PM, UNDP head), **Helen Suzman** (South African anti-apartheid MP) — the name carries the weight of myth and modern achievement.
Featured throughout Homer's *Iliad* and Helen Keller's *The Story of My Life* (1903).
Helen reduces to two — the number of Helen of Troy.