Hildegard
Feminine
Hildegard of Bingen composed music, wrote medicine and theology, advised popes — and invented a language. Her Lingua Ignota, the unknown language, runs to over a thousand invented words with their own alphabet, and it is the earliest constructed language whose author is known by name.
How old is the name Hildegard?
Hildegard first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Hildegard alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 400 people named Hildegard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hildegard most popular?
Hildegard peaked in 1906, reaching #611 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 6,880 places below that high. See the whole 1906 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hildigard to Hildegard
The story of Hildegard
Hildegard, born about 1098, entered religious life as a child and became abbess of a community on the Rhine. She wrote three volumes of visionary theology, two works of natural medicine, a morality play with music, and seventy-seven surviving liturgical songs — the largest body of chant attributed to any single composer of the period, and the reason she is the earliest composer in the Western canon with a documented biography. The Lingua Ignota survives in a glossary of about a thousand words with a 23-letter alphabet, its purpose unexplained. She was named a Doctor of the Church in 2012. The American figures for the name peak in 1906 with German immigration.
Meaning
Germanic "battle enclosure" or "protection in battle"
From Old High German hild, battle or combat, plus gard, an enclosure, yard or place of protection — the same element as in Gerhard and in the English word yard. Hild is one of the most productive Germanic name elements, giving Hilda, Matilda, Brunhild and Clotilde. The compound reads as protection in battle rather than as a description of any bearer; Germanic names combined elements freely without requiring the result to make sense.
How the name formed
- Hildigard
- Hildegard
Related forms: Hildegard · Hildegarde · Ildegarda · Hildegard
Pronouncing Hildegard
HIL-duh-gard
Three syllables, stress on the first. German says HIL-de-gart with a hardened final consonant, since German devoices d at the end of a word.
Nicknames for Hildegard
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 191670 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #611reached in 1906
- Change vs 2023
- −26.3%14 in 2025, from 19
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.
Hildegard in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hildegard in German — same name
- Hildegarde in French — spelling variant
- Ildegarda in Italian — same name
- Hildegard in Dutch — same name
Hildegards among us
people named Hildegard are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Hildegard
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
Hildegard 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
Hildegard beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hildegard in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both elements have settled Old High German meanings.
- It carries one of the most remarkable documented lives of the Middle Ages.
- Hilda and Hilde are established short forms.
- Three syllables and a hard consonant cluster read as severe to some English speakers.
- It is strongly dated to the early twentieth century in America.
- The name is far more familiar in Germany than in the United States.
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Hildegard
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hildegards are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Hildegard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hildegard in 2025?
- Hildegard ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hildegard?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Hildegard — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hildegard with classmates?
- Hildegard will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hildegard
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Mimi#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hildegard? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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