Hilal
A feminine Arabic name meaning "crescent moon" or "new moon".
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the first name Hilal. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Hilal today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hilal births was 2021 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hilal. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hilal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
134
~ 1 in 2,557,868 Americans
Peak year
2021
16 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,243
Tracked since 1995
Census
Hilal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 585 people with the first name Hilal, which placed it at #18,434 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#18,434
National first-name rank
People counted
585
585 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hilal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hilal is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.3%) and Black (8.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hilal described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hilal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.6% · 419
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.3% · 78
- Black or African American8.7% · 51
- Two or more races5.5% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Hilal
Hilal is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 135 total registrations, 74 (54.8%) were male and 61 (45.2%) were female.
Hilal as a male name
- Ranked #10,243 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (12 births)
Hilal as a female name
- Ranked #16,069 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2004 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hilal on both sides of the split. Of the 583 people counted with this name, 330 were male (56.6%) and 253 were female (43.4%).
Popularity
Hilal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hilal from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 59 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hilal by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Hilal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hilals live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hilal
The name Hilal originates from the Arabic language, and its origins can be traced back to the 7th century AD, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The word "hilal" in Arabic means crescent moon, and it is derived from the root word "h-l-l," which means to appear or to become visible.
The name Hilal is often associated with the sighting of the new crescent moon, which marks the beginning of a new month in the Islamic lunar calendar. This connection to the crescent moon has given the name a symbolic meaning of renewal, growth, and hope.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hilal can be found in the Quran, where it is mentioned in relation to the phases of the moon. Additionally, the name appears in various Islamic texts and historical records from the early days of Islam.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Hilal. One of the earliest was Hilal al-Sabi (d. 1056), an Arab mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics. Another prominent figure was Hilal al-Basri (d. 863), a Persian scholar and poet who was renowned for his works on Arabic grammar and literature.
In the realm of literature, Hilal al-Muhandis (d. 1038) was a celebrated Arab poet and playwright from Baghdad. His works were influential in shaping the development of Arabic poetry and drama.
During the medieval period, Hilal ibn al-Muhassin al-Sabi (fl. 10th century) was an Arab physician and scientist who made notable contributions to the field of medicine and natural sciences.
More recently, Hilal Salama (1941-2012) was an Egyptian novelist and playwright whose works explored themes of social and political commentary in the Arab world.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Hilal, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich cultural heritage associated with this name.
People
Hilal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hilal as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hilal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hilal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 134 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hilal going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,557,868 US residents.
Is Hilal a common name?
We classify Hilal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hilal most popular?
The single biggest year for Hilal was 2021, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hilal is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hilal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 585 people with the name Hilal, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,434 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hilal in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hilal?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hilal on both sides of the split. Of the 583 people counted with this name, 330 were male (56.6%) and 253 were female (43.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hilal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hilal is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.3%) and Black (8.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hilal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hilal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.6% (419 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Hilal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hilal a male name?
Yes, 54.8% of people registered as Hilal in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Hilal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hilal in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Hilal can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Hilal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.