Hilarie
Feminine · “cheerful”
Hilarie is a spelling of a name that is still, quietly, part of the English calendar. Oxford, Dublin and the law courts call their winter term after the saint, because his feast day falls when it opens.
How old is the name Hilarie?
Hilarie first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Hilarie alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 700 people named Hilarie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hilarie most popular?
Hilarie peaked in 1953, reaching #2301 nationally. See the whole 1953 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Hilarie
English institutions that predate the modern calendar still divide the year by saints' days, and Hilary is one of the surviving markers. Hilary term runs from January, when his feast falls, and the name is used by the courts, by Oxford and by Trinity College Dublin without anybody involved having much to say about the fourth-century bishop of Poitiers it refers to. He spent his career arguing about the nature of Christ and was exiled for it. The word hilarious, from the same Latin root, meant merely cheerful when English borrowed it and escalated to helpless laughter only in the last century and a half, which is the usual direction of travel for a word describing amusement.
Meaning
cheerful
The Latin hilaris means cheerful or glad, and it gives English hilarious by a route that involved a good deal of exaggeration. The reading is settled.
Pronouncing Hilarie
HIL-uh-ree
Three syllables with the stress in front. The ie ending is said exactly like a y.
Nicknames for Hilarie
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
- 1948
- Most girls named
- 198132 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2301reached in 1953
- Change vs 2006
- 0.0%5 in 2008, from 5
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.
Hilarie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hilaire in French — related form
- Ilaria in Italian — related form
Hilaries among us
people named Hilarie are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Hilarie sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, cheerful and easy to hand a child in one word.
- The sound is entirely familiar, so it is never a puzzle to say.
- Hil comes off the front as a short form and works for either sex.
- Hilary and Hillary are both far commoner, so this spelling will be corrected regularly.
- In America the name carries a strong political association for one generation.
- The ending cannot be heard, so the spelling has to be given aloud every time.
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Hilarie
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Hilaries are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Hilarie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hilarie in 2025?
- Hilarie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Hilarie with classmates?
- Hilarie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Helen#461 · Heather#1261 · Hannah#56 · Hazel#21 · Holly#416 · Hailey#104 · Haley#861 · Heidi#340
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hilarie? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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