Hildegard
An Old German feminine name composed of "hild" meaning battle and "gard" meaning strength.
Name Census estimates that about 336 living Americans carry the first name Hildegard. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hildegard today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hildegard births was 1915 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hildegard. 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.
People living today
336
~ 1 in 1,020,102 Americans
Peak year
1915
81 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,727
Tracked since 1888
Census
Hildegard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,466 people with the first name Hildegard, which placed it at #6,491 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
#6,491
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,466 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hildegard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hildegard is White at 95.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.3%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Hildegard 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 Hildegard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.3% · 2,351
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 57
- Two or more races0.9% · 21
- Black or African American0.8% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Popularity
Hildegard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hildegard from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 483 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hildegard 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 Hildegard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hildegards live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Hildegard, while Ohio, Iowa, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hildegard
The name Hildegard has its origins in the Germanic languages, tracing back to the 8th century AD. It is a compound name, formed from the elements "hild" meaning "battle" and "gard" meaning "guard" or "enclosure". Thus, the name can be interpreted to mean "battle guard" or "one who guards in battle".
The earliest known bearer of the name Hildegard was Hildegard of Vintzgouw, a Frankish noblewoman who lived in the 8th century. She was the wife of Charlemagne, the renowned king of the Franks and the first Holy Roman Emperor.
Hildegard gained particular prominence as a name due to Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, and visionary. She is one of the most celebrated figures of the Middle Ages and is known for her extensive writings on theology, medicine, and natural sciences.
Another notable figure in history with the name Hildegard was Hildegard of Burgau (1163-1195), a German noblewoman who was the wife of Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia. She played a significant role in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th century.
In the 16th century, Hildegard of Bavaria (1532-1594) was a prominent figure in the German Renaissance. She was a Princess of Bavaria and served as the Regent of Bavaria from 1579 to 1597.
The name Hildegard also has literary connections, as it was borne by the character Hildegard Gostkowski in the 1920s novels of the Polish writer Zofia Nałkowska, who is considered one of the most influential figures in Polish literature.
While the name Hildegard has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has been used across various cultures and regions throughout history, with bearers from Germany, France, Italy, and beyond. The name's strong and powerful meaning, combined with its association with influential historical figures, has contributed to its enduring popularity over the centuries.
People
Hildegard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hildegard 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
Hildegard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hildegard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 336 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hildegard 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 1,020,102 US residents.
Is Hildegard a common name?
We classify Hildegard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,930 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hildegard most popular?
The single biggest year for Hildegard was 1915, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hildegard is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hildegard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,466 people with the name Hildegard, or 0.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,491 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 Hildegard 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 Hildegard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hildegard appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,460 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Hildegard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hildegard is White at 95.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.3%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Hildegard most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hildegard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.3% (2,351 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 Hildegard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hildegard a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hildegard in the SSA data are female. 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 Hildegard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hildegard 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 Hildegard 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 Hildegard?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.