Hillery
A feminine name of Old German origins, signifying "from a battle or quarrelsome place".
Name Census estimates that about 625 living Americans carry the first name Hillery. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Hillery today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hillery births was 1979 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hillery. 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
- • Hillery started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
625
~ 1 in 548,407 Americans
Peak year
1979
32 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1983 SSA rank
#6,661
Tracked since 1887
Census
Hillery in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 664 people with the first name Hillery, which placed it at #16,834 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
#16,834
National first-name rank
People counted
664
664 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hillery
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hillery is White at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.4%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Hillery 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 Hillery at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.1% · 492
- Black or African American16.4% · 109
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 35
- Two or more races2.7% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Hillery
Hillery is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 996 total registrations, 501 (50.3%) were male and 495 (49.7%) were female.
Hillery as a male name
- Ranked #6,661 in 1983
- 5 male births in 1983
- Peak: 1921 (17 births)
Hillery as a female name
- Ranked #11,582 in 1998
- 7 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1979 (32 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hillery on both sides of the split. Of the 666 people counted with this name, 159 were male (23.9%) and 507 were female (76.1%).
Popularity
Hillery: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hillery from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 215 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Hillery remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hillery 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 Hillery during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hillerys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Louisiana, California, Alabama recorded the most babies named Hillery, while Alabama, California, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hillery
The name Hillery is an anglicized form of the old French name Hilaire, which itself derives from the Latin name Hilarius, meaning "cheerful" or "merry". The name has its origins in ancient Rome, where it was used as a surname or cognomen for individuals who possessed a lively and joyful disposition.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Hilarius was borne by several notable figures, including St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 300-368 AD), a Bishop and Doctor of the Church who played a significant role in the Trinitarian and Christological controversies of the 4th century. Another prominent bearer of the name was Pope Hilarius (461-468 AD), who served as the Bishop of Rome during a tumultuous period in the Church's history.
The transition from Hilarius to Hillery occurred during the Middle Ages, as the name spread across Europe and underwent various linguistic adaptations. One of the earliest recorded examples of the spelling "Hillery" can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, the name is listed as a surname, indicating its widespread use among the Anglo-Norman aristocracy of the time.
In the centuries that followed, several notable individuals bore the name Hillery. Among them was Sir Geoffrey Hillery (c. 1310-1363), an English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War and was renowned for his military prowess. Another was William Hillery (c. 1690-1763), an Irish-born Anglican clergyman who served as the Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns in Ireland.
The name Hillery also gained prominence in the literary world, with authors such as Hillery Belloc (1870-1953), an Anglo-French writer and historian known for his satirical works and his staunch Catholic faith. In the realm of politics, one cannot overlook Hillery Rodham Clinton (born 1947), the former First Lady of the United States, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of State, who was also the first woman to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.
While the name Hillery has its roots in ancient Rome and has been carried by various historical figures throughout the centuries, its modern usage remains relatively uncommon, particularly in comparison to its more widespread counterparts, such as Hillary or Hilary.
People
Hillery + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hillery 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
Hillery: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hillery?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 625 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hillery 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 548,407 US residents.
Is Hillery a common name?
We classify Hillery as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 996 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hillery most popular?
The single biggest year for Hillery was 1979, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hillery is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hillery in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 664 people with the name Hillery, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,834 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 Hillery 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 Hillery?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hillery on both sides of the split. Of the 666 people counted with this name, 159 were male (23.9%) and 507 were female (76.1%). 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 Hillery?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hillery is White at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.4%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Hillery most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hillery in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.1% (492 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 Hillery in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hillery a male name?
Yes, 50.3% of people registered as Hillery 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 Hillery still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hillery 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 Hillery 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 the name Hillery?
See how many people have the name Hillery on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.