Tilda
A feminine given name of Germanic origin meaning "mighty battle".
Name Census estimates that about 625 living Americans carry the first name Tilda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tilda today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tilda births was 1924 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tilda. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Tilda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
625
~ 1 in 548,407 Americans
Peak year
1924
35 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,359
Tracked since 1880
Census
Tilda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 719 people with the first name Tilda, which placed it at #15,860 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
#15,860
National first-name rank
People counted
719
719 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tilda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tilda is White at 60.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.6%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Tilda 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 Tilda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.1% · 432
- Black or African American23.6% · 170
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 53
- Two or more races3.9% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 17
Popularity
Tilda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tilda from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 280 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Tilda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tilda 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 Tilda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tildas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Tilda, while Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tilda
Tilda is a feminine given name with Germanic origins. It is a short form of the medieval German name Mathilde, which is derived from the Old High German names Mahthild and Mathilt. These names are thought to be composed of the elements "maht" meaning "might" or "strength," and "hild" meaning "battle."
The name Mathilde first appeared in historical records around the 8th century CE and quickly gained popularity among the nobility and royalty of medieval Europe. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Mathilde, Countess of Ringelheim (892–968), a prominent figure in the Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 11th century, Mathilde of Canossa (1046–1115), also known as the Great Countess, was a powerful ruler in Italy who played a significant role in the Investiture Controversy between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. Her influence and legacy helped to further popularize the name throughout Europe.
During the Middle Ages, the name Mathilde was particularly favored in England, where it was often anglicized as Matilda or Maud. One notable bearer was Matilda of Flanders (1031–1083), the wife of William the Conqueror and Queen Consort of England.
Another famous Matilda was the Empress Matilda (1102–1167), daughter of King Henry I of England, who waged a long civil war against her cousin Stephen of Blois for the English throne, known as the Anarchy.
As the name spread across Europe, it also took on various shortened forms, such as Tilda, in different regions. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Tilda comes from the 16th century, when it was used in Sweden and Norway.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Tilda, including:
1. Tilda Swinton (born 1960), an acclaimed British actress known for her roles in films such as "Orlando," "The Deep End," and "Michael Clayton."
2. Tilda Arvidsson (1735–1805), a Swedish industrialist and businesswoman who played a significant role in the development of the Swedish iron industry during the 18th century.
3. Tilda Åkerman (1735–1782), a Swedish writer and feminist who advocated for women's education and rights.
4. Tilda Reunert (1856–1939), a South African philanthropist and social activist who founded several charitable organizations and worked to improve the lives of disadvantaged communities.
5. Tilda Lovell (1874–1953), an American tennis player who won multiple Grand Slam titles in the early 20th century.
People
Tilda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tilda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tilda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tilda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 625 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tilda 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 Tilda a common name?
We classify Tilda 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, 2,023 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tilda most popular?
The single biggest year for Tilda was 1924, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tilda is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tilda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 719 people with the name Tilda, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,860 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 Tilda 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 Tilda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tilda appears almost entirely female. Of the 724 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Tilda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tilda is White at 60.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.6%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Tilda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tilda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.1% (432 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 Tilda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tilda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tilda 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 Tilda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tilda 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 Tilda 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 Tilda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.