Hilma
Hilma was last recorded in 1971, when 5 babies were given it; 2,999 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hilma by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hilma mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hilma is “a female given name from the Germanic languages in occasional use at the turn of the 20th century.”
Used in early 19th-century Scandinavian literature, probably as a variant of Wilhelmina.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hilma?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,775, in 1971; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
105 babies in 1915, the peak
Hilma peaked in 1915, when 105 girls were given it, #646 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 5 | #8,775 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,525 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 8 | #4,925 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,233 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #4,599 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,450 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,378 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,348 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 13 | #3,094 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,360 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (81)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 17 | #2,479 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 9 | #3,726 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 12 | #3,044 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 19 | #2,305 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,161 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 15 | #2,274 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,684 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 19 | #2,028 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 18 | #2,073 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 20 | #1,839 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 21 | #1,765 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 17 | #1,984 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 25 | #1,522 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 23 | #1,599 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,907 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 28 | #1,395 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 22 | #1,625 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 42 | #1,080 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 40 | #1,136 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 32 | #1,304 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 42 | #1,147 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 47 | #1,069 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 35 | #1,297 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 65 | #927 | 0.05 |
| 1926 | 46 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 63 | #942 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 75 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 59 | #970 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 75 | #847 | 0.06 |
| 1921 | 72 | #869 | 0.06 |
| 1920 | 101 | #722 | 0.08 |
| 1919 | 78 | #799 | 0.07 |
| 1918 | 102 | #716 | 0.09 |
| 1917 | 93 | #725 | 0.09 |
| 1916 | 99 | #687 | 0.09 |
| 1915 | 105 | #646 | 0.11 |
| 1914 | 87 | #615 | 0.11 |
| 1913 | 45 | #785 | 0.07 |
| 1912 | 47 | #731 | 0.08 |
| 1911 | 46 | #639 | 0.11 |
| 1910 | 41 | #668 | 0.10 |
| 1909 | 35 | #676 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 53 | #500 | 0.16 |
| 1907 | 48 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1906 | 42 | #545 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 32 | #627 | 0.11 |
| 1904 | 38 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1903 | 34 | #561 | 0.13 |
| 1902 | 35 | #550 | 0.13 |
| 1901 | 51 | #423 | 0.21 |
| 1900 | 38 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1899 | 47 | #424 | 0.20 |
| 1898 | 44 | #468 | 0.17 |
| 1897 | 47 | #427 | 0.20 |
| 1896 | 38 | #472 | 0.16 |
| 1895 | 44 | #430 | 0.19 |
| 1894 | 38 | #453 | 0.17 |
| 1893 | 41 | #425 | 0.19 |
| 1892 | 40 | #424 | 0.19 |
| 1891 | 34 | #436 | 0.18 |
| 1890 | 42 | #389 | 0.22 |
| 1889 | 29 | #459 | 0.16 |
| 1888 | 37 | #405 | 0.21 |
| 1887 | 26 | #437 | 0.18 |
| 1886 | 27 | #422 | 0.19 |
| 1885 | 34 | #344 | 0.26 |
| 1884 | 28 | #380 | 0.22 |
| 1883 | 27 | #348 | 0.24 |
| 1882 | 16 | #464 | 0.15 |
| 1881 | 17 | #410 | 0.18 |
| 1880 | 10 | #561 | 0.11 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Hilma a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Hilma has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 81 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Hilma: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hilma, and how old are they?
An estimated 233 Americans named Hilma and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (8% of everyone recorded); the median is 81 years old and half are between 74 and 88. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 904 people named Hilma (892 women and girls, 12 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 370 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.4 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.
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 Hilma born?
The states with the most babies named Hilma are Minnesota, Michigan and Texas, with 59% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 126 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| Michigan | 73 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 43 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Wisconsin | 38 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Dakota | 24 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Illinois | 23 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Iowa | 19 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 15 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Missouri | 11 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Alabama | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Hilma is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hilma is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 3.0 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 Hilma with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Hilma
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 Hilma and names like it
- Compare Hilma and OrphaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sHilma peaked in 1915.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hilma since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Hilma: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Hilma.
- The names of the Silent GenerationMost people named Hilma alive today were born 1928-1945.
- Names starting with HMost given first.