Hildred
A feminine name of Old English origin meaning "battle counselor".
Name Census estimates that about 296 living Americans carry the first name Hildred. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Hildred today is around 83 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hildred births was 1923 (107 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hildred. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Hildred is about 83 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hildreds were born before 1953.
People living today
296
~ 1 in 1,157,954 Americans
Peak year
1923
107 babies that year
Average age
83
years old
1963 SSA rank
#3,804
Tracked since 1889
Census
Hildred in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 646 people with the first name Hildred, which placed it at #17,193 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
#17,193
National first-name rank
People counted
646
646 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hildred
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hildred is White at 53.9%. The next largest groups are Black (35.6%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Hildred 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 Hildred at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.9% · 348
- Black or African American35.6% · 230
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 40
- Two or more races2.5% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Hildred
Hildred leans heavily female at 85.1% of total registrations, but 421 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hildred as a male name
- Ranked #3,804 in 1963
- 6 male births in 1963
- Peak: 1923 (19 births)
Hildred as a female name
- Ranked #6,063 in 1965
- 6 female births in 1965
- Peak: 1920 (88 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hildred leans strongly female. 514 people counted with this name were female (80.4%), compared with 125 male bearers (19.6%).
Popularity
Hildred: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hildred from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 862 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hildred 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 Hildred during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hildreds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio recorded the most babies named Hildred, while Texas, Michigan, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hildred
The name Hildred has its roots in Old English, originating from the Germanic language family. It is a compound name derived from the elements "hild" meaning "battle" and "red" meaning "counsel" or "advice." This combination suggests a meaning along the lines of "battle counsel" or "wise in battle."
The earliest recorded use of the name Hildred dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England, around the 7th to 11th centuries. During this time, names with the "hild" element were popular among the Anglo-Saxons, reflecting their warrior culture and the importance placed on bravery and strength in battle.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Hildred was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who lived in the 9th century. She was the wife of Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia, and is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an important historical record of the period.
In the 11th century, a Benedictine monk named Hildred is recorded as having been the abbot of the monastery at Ramsey in Cambridgeshire, England. He is known for his work in preserving and copying manuscripts, contributing to the preservation of knowledge during the Middle Ages.
Another notable figure with the name Hildred was a French Benedictine abbess who lived in the 12th century. She was the abbess of the Convent of Remiremont in Lorraine and was known for her piety and leadership in the religious community.
During the 13th century, an English knight named Hildred de Vere fought in the Crusades and is mentioned in accounts of the battles and sieges of the time. He was part of the military campaign led by King Richard I of England to the Holy Land.
In the 16th century, a German botanist named Hildred Knaust made significant contributions to the study of plants and their medicinal properties. He authored several books on the subject and is credited with identifying and documenting numerous plant species.
While the name Hildred has become less common in modern times, it has a rich history and significance rooted in the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic cultural traditions. Its meaning and associations with wisdom, counsel, and bravery in battle reflect the values and ideals of the societies from which it originated.
People
Hildred + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hildred 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
Hildred: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hildred?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 296 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hildred 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 1,157,954 US residents.
Is Hildred a common name?
We classify Hildred as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,825 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hildred most popular?
The single biggest year for Hildred was 1923, when 107 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hildred is about 83 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hildred in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 646 people with the name Hildred, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,193 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 Hildred 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 Hildred?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hildred leans strongly female. 514 people counted with this name were female (80.4%), compared with 125 male bearers (19.6%). 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 Hildred?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hildred is White at 53.9%. The next largest groups are Black (35.6%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Hildred most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hildred in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.9% (348 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 Hildred in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hildred a female name?
Yes, 85.1% of people registered as Hildred 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 Hildred still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hildred 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 Hildred 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 people have Hildred as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.