Name

Helsinki (Finnish pronunciation places stress on the first syllable: Finnish pronunciation: ), is used to refer to the city in most languages, but not in Swedish.

The Swedish name Helsingfors ( or ) is the original official name of the city of Helsinki (in the very beginning, spelled Hellssingeforss). The Finnish language form of the name probably originates from Helsinga and similar names used for the river that is currently known as the Vantaa River as documented already in the 14th century. Helsingfors comes from the name of the surrounding parish, Helsinge (source for Finnish Helsinki) and the rapids (Swedish: fors), which flowed through the original village.

Another suggestion is that the name Helsinge may have originated with medieval Swedish settlers who came from Hälsingland in Sweden. Others have proposed that the name derives from the Swedish word helsing, a former version of the word hals (neck), referring to the narrowest part of the river, i.e. the rapids. Other Scandinavian cities located at this kind of geographical locations were given similar names at the time, such as Helsingør and Helsingborg.

In Helsinki slang the city is nicknamed as either Stadi (from the Swedish word stad, meaning "city") or Hesa (short of Helsinki + slang suffix sa), with Stadi being used to assert that the speaker is native to the city. Helsset is the Northern Saami name of Helsinki.