Hilma
From Old Norse origins, meaning "helmet" or "protective tarn cap".
Name Census estimates that about 210 living Americans carry the first name Hilma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hilma today is around 84 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hilma births was 1915 (105 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hilma. 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 Hilma is about 84 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hilmas were born before 1952.
People living today
210
~ 1 in 1,632,164 Americans
Peak year
1915
105 babies that year
Average age
84
years old
1971 SSA rank
#8,778
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hilma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 905 people with the first name Hilma, which placed it at #13,369 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
#13,369
National first-name rank
People counted
905
905 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
41.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hilma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hilma is White at 41.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (41.2%) and Black (14.0%). 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 Hilma 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 Hilma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White41.8% · 378
- Hispanic or Latino41.2% · 373
- Black or African American14.0% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 8
- Two or more races0.6% · 5
Popularity
Hilma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hilma from the 1880s through to the 1970s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 743 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
Hilma 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 Hilma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hilmas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Minnesota, Michigan, Texas recorded the most babies named Hilma, while New York, North Carolina, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hilma
The name Hilma originated in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Scandinavian people during the Viking Age. It is derived from the Old Norse elements "hildr," meaning "battle," and "mær," meaning "maiden." Consequently, the name Hilma can be interpreted as "battle maiden" or "warrior maiden."
This name had its roots in the ancient Norse mythology, where battle-maidens, known as Valkyries, were revered as powerful female figures who escorted fallen warriors to the afterlife. The name Hilma may have been given to girls in honor of these mythological figures, reflecting the admiration for their strength and courage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hilma can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which were written in the 13th and 14th centuries. These literary works, which documented the lives and adventures of the Icelandic people, often featured characters with Old Norse names like Hilma.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hilma. Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was a Swedish artist and pioneer of abstract art, whose works predated the better-known abstract movements of the early 20th century. Hilma Granqvist (1890-1972) was a Swedish writer and translator who published several novels and short stories.
In Finland, Hilma Jalkanen (1900-1939) was a renowned sculptor and artist known for her modernist style and works depicting Finnish folklore and rural life. Hilma Kullervo (1900-1986), another Finnish artist, gained recognition for her landscape paintings and portraits.
Hilma Celsius (1879-1957), a Swedish biochemist, made significant contributions to the understanding of cellular metabolism and the role of enzymes in biological processes. Her research laid the foundation for the development of modern biochemistry.
It is worth noting that while the name Hilma has its roots in Scandinavian countries, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in regions with historical ties to Norse culture or influenced by Scandinavian migration.
People
Hilma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hilma 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
Hilma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hilma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hilma 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 1,632,164 US residents.
Is Hilma a common name?
We classify Hilma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,999 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hilma most popular?
The single biggest year for Hilma was 1915, when 105 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hilma is about 84 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hilma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 905 people with the name Hilma, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,369 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 Hilma 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 Hilma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hilma leans strongly female. 892 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 12 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Hilma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hilma is White at 41.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (41.2%) and Black (14.0%). 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 Hilma most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hilma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.8% (378 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 Hilma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hilma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hilma 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 Hilma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hilma 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 Hilma 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 Hilma?
See how many Americans are named Hilma on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.