Hilary
Hilary was given to 24 girls in 2025, #5,300 among girls’ names; 26,368 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 23,400 Americans named Hilary and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 42 years old and half are between 36 and 51.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hilary by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hilary mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hilary is “a female given name from Latin.” Its etymology gives the sense “cheerful, happy” (Hilarius).
Also “a male given name from Latin.”
From Latin Hilarius (“cheerful, happy”), name of a fourth-century saint, and from its feminine form Hilaria.
/ˈhɪləɹi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hilary?
#5,300 among girls’ names, 2025
Hilary fell from #3,041 in 2015 to #5,300 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 31.4 to 14.9 per million.
1,225 babies in 1990, the peak
Hilary peaked in 1990, when 1,225 babies were given it (1,217 girls, #232 among girls’ names). The 24 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 24 | #5,300 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 37 | #3,994 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 60 | #2,833 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 45 | #3,500 | 0.03 |
| 2021 | 20 | #6,031 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 22 | #5,543 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 31 | #4,479 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 11 | #9,404 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,213 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 27 | #5,048 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (104)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 56 | #3,041 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 60 | #2,856 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 66 | #2,669 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 75 | #2,458 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 79 | #2,355 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 80 | #2,370 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 87 | #2,251 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 101 | #2,045 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 164 | #1,439 | 0.09 |
| 2006 | 218 | #1,133 | 0.11 |
| 2005 | 219 | #1,090 | 0.12 |
| 2004 | 196 | #1,154 | 0.11 |
| 2003 | 110 | #1,721 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 96 | #1,855 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 84 | #2,014 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 87 | #1,939 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 81 | #1,940 | 0.05 |
| 1998 | 92 | #1,721 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 107 | #1,518 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 123 | #1,369 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 125 | #1,323 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 145 | #1,208 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 344 | #647 | 0.19 |
| 1992 | 1,170 | #234 | 0.63 |
| 1991 | 1,149 | #242 | 0.61 |
| 1990 | 1,217 | #232 | 0.64 |
| 1989 | 1,026 | #261 | 0.56 |
| 1988 | 976 | #262 | 0.55 |
| 1987 | 873 | #281 | 0.50 |
| 1986 | 909 | #274 | 0.53 |
| 1985 | 1,054 | #244 | 0.61 |
| 1984 | 877 | #274 | 0.52 |
| 1983 | 655 | #346 | 0.39 |
| 1982 | 601 | #384 | 0.35 |
| 1981 | 625 | #372 | 0.37 |
| 1980 | 741 | #326 | 0.45 |
| 1979 | 882 | #275 | 0.55 |
| 1978 | 763 | #305 | 0.50 |
| 1977 | 580 | #369 | 0.38 |
| 1976 | 437 | #444 | 0.30 |
| 1975 | 452 | #439 | 0.31 |
| 1974 | 426 | #445 | 0.29 |
| 1973 | 375 | #478 | 0.26 |
| 1972 | 333 | #516 | 0.22 |
| 1971 | 348 | #525 | 0.21 |
| 1970 | 355 | #532 | 0.20 |
| 1969 | 347 | #527 | 0.21 |
| 1968 | 253 | #605 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 234 | #623 | 0.14 |
| 1966 | 253 | #594 | 0.15 |
| 1965 | 247 | #621 | 0.14 |
| 1964 | 257 | #638 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 250 | #640 | 0.13 |
| 1962 | 200 | #731 | 0.10 |
| 1961 | 206 | #725 | 0.10 |
| 1960 | 164 | #811 | 0.08 |
| 1959 | 146 | #844 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 128 | #907 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 173 | #757 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 162 | #769 | 0.08 |
| 1955 | 138 | #820 | 0.07 |
| 1954 | 116 | #891 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 114 | #882 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 100 | #925 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 103 | #894 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 109 | #843 | 0.06 |
| 1949 | 86 | #965 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 61 | #1,147 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 62 | #1,145 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 38 | #1,427 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 45 | #1,178 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 33 | #1,413 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 27 | #1,637 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 36 | #1,356 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 24 | #1,626 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,477 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 8 | #3,255 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 8 | #3,290 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,495 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,957 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,631 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 6 | #3,931 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 9 | #3,150 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 6 | #4,078 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,477 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,884 | under 0.01 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,692 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,709 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,414 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,641 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,621 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,312 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 6 | #4,530 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,870 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Hilary a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 26,368 Americans recorded as Hilary, 92% are girls and 8% boys. In 2025 it went to 24 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Hilary: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hilary, and how old are they?
23,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 26,368 Americans ever recorded as Hilary. The median Hilary alive today is 42 years old; half are between 36 and 51.
The 2020 Census counted 24,293 people named Hilary (23,136 women and girls, 1,157 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 23,793 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 212 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,470 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 6,770 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11,600 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,860 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 477 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Hilary born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 5 | #3,497 | 0.7× |
Where Hilary is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hilary is most over-represented in Maine: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Hilary with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 59,351 babies since 1880, Hilary is the second most given (44% of them). In 2025 it was given to 24 of their 97 babies (25%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Hilary
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Hilary and names like it
- Compare Hilary and HillaryBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sHilary peaked in 1990.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hilary since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Hilary: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1990The year the most babies were named Hilary.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Hilary alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with HMost given first.