Hélène

It's not my favorite, but my great-great-aunt (or something like that) was named Helena, and threatened horrible things if anyone was named after her, so this is a creative way to get around the curse.
Also, I hate Hélène Bezukhov with a strong passion.

This French form of Helen/Ellen is damn sexy and slightly exotic. On paper, at least. My only concern: if Anglophone communities can faithfully reproduce it or not since it contains two accented characters in printed legal documents and such. Sure, this makes the name a bit unusual, but it seems to take a bit of work...

I am fond of this name. In fact I like it better than Helena (which I do love). Helene makes me think of a beautiful woman.

I adore this name! I'm using it as the name for a main character in a story I'm writing (an English, Goth girl with French heritage) and I think it suits her well. Helene is a beautiful name, so much more so than Helen! I pronounce it "hay-LEHN" or "heh-LEHN", because I have known people with this name who pronounced it that way.