Ilda
An Iberian name of undeterminate origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 830 living Americans carry the first name Ilda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ilda today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilda births was 1921 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilda. 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
830
~ 1 in 412,957 Americans
Peak year
1921
34 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,160
Tracked since 1894
Census
Ilda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,332 people with the first name Ilda, which placed it at #5,217 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
#5,217
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,332 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
72.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilda is Hispanic at 72.7%. The next largest groups are White (23.3%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Ilda 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 Ilda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino72.7% · 2,423
- White23.3% · 776
- Black or African American3.2% · 107
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 16
- Two or more races0.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Ilda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilda from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 216 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
Ilda 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 Ilda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ildas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Ilda, while Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 74 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilda
The name Ilda is of Germanic origin, derived from the ancient root word "hild," meaning "battle" or "combat." Its earliest known use dates back to the early medieval period, particularly among various Germanic tribes that inhabited regions of present-day Germany and Scandinavia.
Ilda was a popular name among the Goths, a powerful Germanic people who played a significant role in the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing this name was Ilda, the daughter of King Theodoric the Great, who ruled the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy from 493 to 526 AD.
During the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the name Ilda was widely used among the Norse peoples of Scandinavia. Several runic inscriptions from this period have been found with variations of the name, such as Hildr and Hildigunnr.
In the 12th century, the Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri Sturluson mentions a legendary figure named Hildr in his work, the Prose Edda. According to Norse mythology, Hildr was a Valkyrie, a female warrior who guided fallen heroes to Valhalla, the great hall of the slain in Asgard.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Ilda was Ilda of Toggenburg, a Swiss noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. She is remembered for her involvement in the establishment of the Cistercian monastery of St. Maria der Engel in Wetzikon, Switzerland.
Another notable Ilda was Ilda of Boulogne, a 13th-century French noblewoman who served as the regent of the County of Boulogne during the minority of her son, Matteo di Monferrato. She played a crucial role in the governance of the county and the defense of its territories.
In the 16th century, Ilda Botti was an Italian painter and engraver from Bologna. She is known for her religious paintings and etchings, many of which can be found in churches and galleries throughout Italy.
Ilda Persson, born in 1904 in Sweden, was a notable Swedish author and translator. Her works include novels, short stories, and translations of works by authors such as Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield.
While the name Ilda may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and connection to various cultures and periods make it a unique and fascinating name with deep roots in the past.
People
Ilda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ilda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 830 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilda 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 412,957 US residents.
Is Ilda a common name?
We classify Ilda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,522 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilda most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilda was 1921, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilda is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,332 people with the name Ilda, or 1.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,217 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 Ilda 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 Ilda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ilda appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,335 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 Ilda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilda is Hispanic at 72.7%. The next largest groups are White (23.3%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Ilda most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ilda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.7% (2,423 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 Ilda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ilda 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 Ilda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilda 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 Ilda 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 are called Ilda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.