Definition of "Helen"

Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,When with your blood you daily paint her thus.

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]

"Is her name Ellen or Helen, Miss Viner? I thought —"Miss Viner closed her eyes."I can sound my h's, dear, as well as anyone, but Helen is not a suitable name for a servant. I don't know what the mothers in the lower classes are coming to nowadays."

1928, Agatha Christie, The Mystery of the Blue Train

...in 1910 she brought Helen into the world, the little female, or "mujercita", as her mother called all the babies, naming her after the glittery label on a facial ointment, The Helen of Troy Beauty Pomade, said to eradicate wrinkles, to soften and add a youthful glow to the user's skin - a fortuitous choice because, of all the sisters, she would be the most beautiful and, never growing old, would always possess the face of a winsome adolescent beauty.

1993, Oscar Hijuelos, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien, page 6

Gemma followed her, thinking that Helen seemed rather an old-fashioned and elegant name for this rumpled young mother.

2003, Deborah Crombie, A Share in Death, HarperCollins, page 189