Hilda
Hilda was given to 55 girls in 2025, #3,007 among girls’ names; 81,200 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 21,800 Americans named Hilda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (27% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 50 and 79.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hilda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hilda mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hilda is “a female given name from the Germanic languages used since Middle Ages.” Its etymology gives the sense “battle” (hild).
Short form of Germanic names beginning or ending in hild (“battle”).
/ˈhɪldə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hilda?
#3,007 among girls’ names, 2025
Hilda rose from #3,316 in 2015 to #3,007 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 27.4 to 34.2 per million.
2,137 babies in 1921, the peak
Hilda peaked in 1921, when 2,137 babies were given it (2,128 girls, #123 among girls’ names). The 55 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 55 | #3,007 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 54 | #3,029 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 56 | #2,991 | 0.03 |
| 2022 | 60 | #2,839 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 46 | #3,410 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 45 | #3,420 | 0.03 |
| 2019 | 48 | #3,297 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 45 | #3,455 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 36 | #4,096 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 40 | #3,809 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 49 | #3,316 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 44 | #3,557 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 33 | #4,362 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 65 | #2,719 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 41 | #3,746 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 47 | #3,430 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 75 | #2,516 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 62 | #2,867 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 61 | #2,945 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 90 | #2,154 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 75 | #2,364 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 88 | #2,073 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 86 | #2,070 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 120 | #1,559 | 0.07 |
| 2001 | 88 | #1,956 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 82 | #2,020 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 106 | #1,582 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 103 | #1,588 | 0.06 |
| 1997 | 112 | #1,468 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 124 | #1,359 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 138 | #1,235 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 148 | #1,191 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 152 | #1,161 | 0.08 |
| 1992 | 158 | #1,122 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 163 | #1,101 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 158 | #1,103 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 172 | #1,002 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 139 | #1,113 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 146 | #1,055 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 170 | #934 | 0.10 |
| 1985 | 183 | #874 | 0.11 |
| 1984 | 188 | #832 | 0.11 |
| 1983 | 195 | #797 | 0.12 |
| 1982 | 219 | #757 | 0.13 |
| 1981 | 242 | #697 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 253 | #684 | 0.15 |
| 1979 | 221 | #739 | 0.14 |
| 1978 | 237 | #671 | 0.15 |
| 1977 | 197 | #765 | 0.13 |
| 1976 | 279 | #585 | 0.19 |
| 1975 | 249 | #631 | 0.17 |
| 1974 | 304 | #552 | 0.21 |
| 1973 | 236 | #640 | 0.16 |
| 1972 | 284 | #578 | 0.19 |
| 1971 | 277 | #614 | 0.17 |
| 1970 | 298 | #589 | 0.17 |
| 1969 | 285 | #586 | 0.17 |
| 1968 | 250 | #609 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 292 | #552 | 0.18 |
| 1966 | 291 | #555 | 0.17 |
| 1965 | 377 | #488 | 0.21 |
| 1964 | 411 | #476 | 0.22 |
| 1963 | 380 | #498 | 0.20 |
| 1962 | 428 | #466 | 0.22 |
| 1961 | 424 | #474 | 0.21 |
| 1960 | 458 | #456 | 0.23 |
| 1959 | 466 | #444 | 0.23 |
| 1958 | 524 | #405 | 0.26 |
| 1957 | 587 | #373 | 0.29 |
| 1956 | 626 | #348 | 0.31 |
| 1955 | 660 | #331 | 0.34 |
| 1954 | 658 | #330 | 0.34 |
| 1953 | 727 | #305 | 0.39 |
| 1952 | 665 | #313 | 0.36 |
| 1951 | 708 | #296 | 0.39 |
| 1950 | 682 | #296 | 0.40 |
| 1949 | 704 | #292 | 0.41 |
| 1948 | 798 | #273 | 0.47 |
| 1947 | 843 | #262 | 0.48 |
| 1946 | 718 | #270 | 0.46 |
| 1945 | 680 | #259 | 0.52 |
| 1944 | 745 | #241 | 0.56 |
| 1943 | 703 | #263 | 0.50 |
| 1942 | 784 | #244 | 0.58 |
| 1941 | 795 | #218 | 0.66 |
| 1940 | 797 | #215 | 0.70 |
| 1939 | 762 | #221 | 0.69 |
| 1938 | 850 | #205 | 0.77 |
| 1937 | 761 | #219 | 0.72 |
| 1936 | 822 | #204 | 0.79 |
| 1935 | 867 | #199 | 0.83 |
| 1934 | 929 | #192 | 0.89 |
| 1933 | 957 | #179 | 0.95 |
| 1932 | 1,105 | #172 | 1.0 |
| 1931 | 1,098 | #167 | 1.0 |
| 1930 | 1,303 | #158 | 1.2 |
| 1929 | 1,334 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 1928 | 1,574 | #148 | 1.4 |
| 1927 | 1,669 | #144 | 1.4 |
| 1926 | 1,847 | #139 | 1.6 |
| 1925 | 1,824 | #142 | 1.5 |
| 1924 | 1,941 | #141 | 1.6 |
| 1923 | 1,862 | #140 | 1.5 |
| 1922 | 1,962 | #131 | 1.6 |
| 1921 | 2,128 | #123 | 1.7 |
| 1920 | 2,050 | #125 | 1.7 |
| 1919 | 1,917 | #123 | 1.7 |
| 1918 | 2,118 | #114 | 1.8 |
| 1917 | 2,006 | #112 | 1.9 |
| 1916 | 2,075 | #105 | 2.0 |
| 1915 | 1,891 | #107 | 1.9 |
| 1914 | 1,525 | #103 | 2.0 |
| 1913 | 1,275 | #105 | 2.0 |
| 1912 | 1,158 | #104 | 2.1 |
| 1911 | 916 | #101 | 2.2 |
| 1910 | 793 | #109 | 2.0 |
| 1909 | 773 | #100 | 2.2 |
| 1908 | 735 | #102 | 2.2 |
| 1907 | 702 | #101 | 2.2 |
| 1906 | 705 | #97 | 2.4 |
| 1905 | 655 | #101 | 2.2 |
| 1904 | 629 | #98 | 2.3 |
| 1903 | 698 | #88 | 2.7 |
| 1902 | 649 | #94 | 2.5 |
| 1901 | 574 | #92 | 2.4 |
| 1900 | 663 | #101 | 2.2 |
| 1899 | 621 | #87 | 2.7 |
| 1898 | 610 | #97 | 2.4 |
| 1897 | 561 | #94 | 2.4 |
| 1896 | 549 | #95 | 2.3 |
| 1895 | 513 | #104 | 2.2 |
| 1894 | 470 | #106 | 2.1 |
| 1893 | 410 | #107 | 1.9 |
| 1892 | 370 | #121 | 1.7 |
| 1891 | 324 | #122 | 1.7 |
| 1890 | 304 | #128 | 1.6 |
| 1889 | 251 | #138 | 1.4 |
| 1888 | 219 | #146 | 1.2 |
| 1887 | 156 | #156 | 1.1 |
| 1886 | 143 | #161 | 1.0 |
| 1885 | 121 | #168 | 0.91 |
| 1884 | 125 | #157 | 1.0 |
| 1883 | 99 | #169 | 0.88 |
| 1882 | 58 | #226 | 0.54 |
| 1881 | 48 | #223 | 0.52 |
| 1880 | 60 | #199 | 0.66 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Hilda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Hilda has been given almost only to girls: 178 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Hilda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hilda, and how old are they?
21,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 27% of the 81,200 Americans ever recorded as Hilda. The median Hilda alive today is 68 years old; half are between 50 and 79.
The 2020 Census counted 54,736 people named Hilda (54,638 women and girls, 98 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 26,581 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.1 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 4,350 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8,710 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,020 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,630 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,290 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 607 |
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 Hilda born?
The states with the most babies named Hilda are New York, Texas and North Carolina, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 6,340 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 6,001 | #1,956 | 1.5× |
| North Carolina | 4,893 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 4,677 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| California | 4,153 | #2,168 | 1.2× |
| Louisiana | 3,163 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Virginia | 2,406 | #1,255 | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 2,306 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 2,277 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Maryland | 2,142 | not ranked | 2.1× |
Where Hilda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hilda is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 Hilda 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 81,793 babies since 1880, Hilda is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 55 of their 67 babies (82%), again the 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 Hilda
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 Hilda and names like it
- Compare Hilda and HildeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHilda peaked in 1921.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hilda since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Hilda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Hilda.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Hilda alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.