Helmiltä puuttui näkemisen kyky. Helmi oli isoäidille pettymys. Olen usein miettinyt, miksi hän antoi äidilleni tuon nimen. Ehkä hän oli tuntenut ihailua tuon kuultavan vaaleuden edessä, joka oli niin erilaista kuin hänen oma läpitunkemattomuutensa. Tai ehkä se oli ironiaa. Luulen ettei isoäiti koskaan pitänyt Helmistä. Ehkä hän heti näki, ettei tästä ollut tehtävän jatkajaksi. Ehkä tytär hiersi hänen mieltään kuin hiekansiru osteria.
Helmi was not blessed with vision. She had been a disappointment to her grandmother. I had always asked why she had given my mother that name. Perhaps she had felt admiration in the presence of that translucent light that was so different from her own imperviousness. Or perhaps it was ironic. I think my grandmother never liked Helmi. Perhaps she immediately saw that she could not carry on the deed. Perhaps her daughter gnawed her mind like a grain of a sand gnawed an oyster.
Helmi is the 84th most common female given name in Finland, belonging to 9,057 female individuals (and as a middle name to 10,164 more), according to February 2023 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.
