Hilaria
Feminine · “cheerful”
The Hilaria were a Roman festival, held in late March, and the point of them was rejoicing — the mourning of the previous days ended and the city was required to be cheerful. The word behind them is hilaris, and it is the same one behind the English hilarious, though Latin meant something calmer than that: glad rather than helpless with laughter.
How old is the name Hilaria?
Hilaria first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Hilaria alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 500 people named Hilaria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hilaria most popular?
Hilaria peaked in 1887, reaching #1147 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 12,061 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hilaris to Hilaria
The story of Hilaria
Late Roman families used adjectives freely as names, and the Christian ones took to Hilaris and Hilaria with obvious enthusiasm — a fourth-century bishop of Poitiers named Hilarius became a doctor of the church, and English legal and academic terms still call the spring term Hilary after his feast day. The feminine stayed in use across Spain, Italy and Latin America. American records carry Hilaria from the 1880s, arriving with Spanish-speaking and Italian families, and it has always been rare here.
Meaning
cheerful, glad
From the Latin hilaris, cheerful or merry, itself borrowed from the Greek hilaros. The masculine form gives Hilary and Hilarion; the English word hilarious is a nineteenth-century intensification of the same root, and the Latin was considerably milder.
How the name formed
- hilaris
- Hilaria
Related forms: Hilaria · Ilaria · Hilaria · Hilaire
Pronouncing Hilaria
ee-LAH-ree-ah
Four syllables, stress on the second. The h is silent in Spanish and Italian and sounded in English, which is the main difference between the two readings. Italian drops the letter entirely and writes Ilaria.
Nicknames for Hilaria
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 193028 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1147reached in 1887
- Change vs 2022
- −25.0%6 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Hilaria in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hilaria in Spanish — same name
- Ilaria in Italian — same name
- Hilaria in Latin — same name
- Hilaire in French — related form
Hilarias among us
people named Hilaria are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Hilaria
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Hilaria sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Hilaria beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hilaria in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a single cheerful word and takes one sentence to give.
- It is standard in Spanish and, in its Italian form, entirely current there.
- Four open syllables that sit well after almost any surname.
- It has a documented Roman festival and a doctor of the church behind it.
- The h is sounded in English and silent in Spanish, so the name arrives two ways.
- The English word hilarious is close enough to be an unavoidable association.
- Ilaria and Hilary are both commoner and will be written instead.
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What they receive
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Hilaria
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hilarias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Hilaria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hilaria in 2025?
- Hilaria ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hilaria?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Hilaria — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hilaria with classmates?
- Hilaria will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hilaria
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hilaria? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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