1214 Helmech in a monastery's charterHelmech v listine kláštora

The name appears in writing for the first time in 1214, in the founding charter of the Premonstratensian house at Leles, a few kilometres away, where it is written Helmech. Leles was a place of authentication — a monastery licensed by the king to draw up, seal and store legal documents, the nearest thing the medieval kingdom had to a notary's office. Small places in this country have any written history at all only because such houses kept their paperwork. The name itself is Slavic: chlm is an old word for a hill, and the hills behind the town are the only ones for a long way.Meno sa v písomnostiach objavuje po prvý raz v roku 1214, v zakladacej listine premonštrátskeho prepoštstva v Lelese, ktoré leží pár kilometrov odtiaľto, a to v tvare Helmech. Leles bol hodnoverné miesto — kláštor, ktorý mal od kráľa právo spisovať, overovať a uchovávať listiny, teda čosi ako vtedajší notársky úrad. Malé obce v tomto kraji majú vôbec nejaké písané dejiny len vďaka tomu, že si takéto domy odkladali papiere. Samo meno je slovanské: chlm je staré slovo pre kopec a kopce za mestom sú jediné široko-ďaleko.