Did you mean this in response to me? If so, and for future reference, when you want to respond to someone else who made a response rather than to the Original Poster, you need to be on the other responder's message, not the OP's, and click "Respond" there.
I know what you say about
Helen's popularity vs
Susan's popularity is true, and I mentioned that in my post. But it doesn't change my impression and doesn't change which name
feels more dated to me. We talk about feelings and impressions a lot here, and they don't have to correspond to facts. After all, I know intellectually that not every woman named
Helen is frumpy and that naming a baby
Helen does not guarantee she will be a frumpy adult, but that's still my feeling about the name.
Also,
Susanna /
Susannah, from which
Susan is derived, is as old or nearly as old as
Helen.