Hillis
A variant form of the English word "hill" or "hills".
Name Census estimates that about 83 living Americans carry the first name Hillis. It is a predominantly male name (96.9% of registrations). The average person named Hillis today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hillis births was 1918 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hillis. 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 Hillis is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hillis' were born before 1956.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hillis. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
83
~ 1 in 4,129,570 Americans
Peak year
1918
19 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1986 SSA rank
#3,696
Tracked since 1912
Census
Hillis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 184 people with the first name Hillis, which placed it at #40,443 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
#40,443
National first-name rank
People counted
184
184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hillis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hillis is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Hillis 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 Hillis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.7% · 143
- Black or African American15.8% · 29
- Two or more races5.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Hillis
Hillis leans heavily male at 96.9% of total registrations, but 13 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hillis as a male name
- Ranked #7,131 in 1986
- 5 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1919 (16 births)
Hillis as a female name
- Ranked #3,696 in 1927
- 8 female births in 1927
- Peak: 1927 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hillis leans strongly male. 152 people counted with this name were male (81.7%), compared with 34 female bearers (18.3%).
Popularity
Hillis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hillis from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 140 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
Hillis 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 Hillis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hillis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hillis
The name Hillis is an English variant of the masculine given name Hilary, which has its roots in the Latin name Hilarius. Hilarius was derived from the Latin word "hilaris," meaning "cheerful" or "merry." The name Hilary gained popularity in the early Christian era, likely due to its association with Saint Hilary of Poitiers, a fourth-century bishop and Doctor of the Church.
Hillis emerged as a diminutive or pet form of Hilary, particularly in regions of England and Scotland. It was commonly used as a given name for boys in these areas during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. The earliest recorded instances of the name Hillis can be traced back to parish records and census data from the 16th and 17th centuries in England and Scotland.
One notable historical figure with the name Hillis was Hillis Hadjo, a renowned Creek leader and warrior from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He played a significant role in the Creek War of 1813-1814 and was a prominent figure in the resistance against American encroachment on Creek lands.
Another person of historical significance was Hillis Miller, an American literary critic and educator born in 1928. He made significant contributions to the field of deconstruction and was a renowned scholar of Victorian literature. Miller served as the president of the University of Hartford and the University of Virginia during his academic career.
In the realm of politics, Hillis Vaughan Graven, born in 1876, was a U.S. Representative from Iowa. He served in the House of Representatives from 1935 to 1943 and was a member of the Democratic Party.
Hillis Margis, born in 1909, was a Canadian painter and printmaker known for her vibrant depictions of rural landscapes and scenes from everyday life. Her works are part of numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Lastly, Hillis Prine, born in 1931, was an American baseball player who played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Braves during the 1950s and 1960s.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the given name Hillis, highlighting its use across various fields and cultures.
People
Hillis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hillis 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
Hillis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hillis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 83 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hillis 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 4,129,570 US residents.
Is Hillis a common name?
We classify Hillis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 421 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hillis most popular?
The single biggest year for Hillis was 1918, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hillis is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hillis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 184 people with the name Hillis, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,443 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 Hillis 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 Hillis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hillis leans strongly male. 152 people counted with this name were male (81.7%), compared with 34 female bearers (18.3%). 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 Hillis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hillis is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Hillis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hillis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.7% (143 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 Hillis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hillis a male name?
Yes, 96.9% of people registered as Hillis 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 Hillis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hillis 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 Hillis 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 share the name Hillis?
Find out how many people share the name Hillis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.