Hildred
Feminine · “battle counsel”
Hildred is given to both — 2,404 girls and 421 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Hild was the Old English word for battle, and it opens or closes a surprising number of women's names: Hilda, Mathilda, Brunhild, Clothild, Gunhild. Hildred looks like one of them and is probably not — it reads as Hilda and Mildred meeting in the middle.
How old is the name Hildred?
Hildred first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Hildred alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. About 300 people named Hildred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hildred most popular?
Hildred peaked in 1898, reaching #472 nationally. See the whole 1898 chart.
Where it comes from
From Hilda to Hildred
The story of Hildred
The Victorian revival of Anglo-Saxon names produced both genuine survivals and convincing imitations, and telling them apart takes work. Hilda, Mildred and Winifred are real and documented; Hildred appears only in the nineteenth century, in England first and then America, at exactly the point when families were reaching for names that sounded old. A name with no medieval record that surfaces in the middle of a revival is usually a product of the revival, however well-formed it looks — and this one is very well formed, which is the point.
Meaningscholars disagree
battle counsel
If the name is a genuine Germanic compound, the two halves are battle and counsel. If it was assembled in nineteenth-century England from Hilda and Mildred, which is likelier, it means nothing as a whole.
How the name formed
- Hilda
- Hildred
Pronouncing Hildred
HIL-dred
Two syllables with the weight at the front. There is no second reading to correct.
Nicknames for Hildred
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
- 1889
- Most girls named
- 192088 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #472reached in 1898
- Change vs 1963
- +20.0%6 in 1965, 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.
Hildreds among us
people named Hildred 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
Hildred 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
- Both syllables are readable, so the name is said correctly at sight.
- It sits alongside a set of genuinely old English names and reads as one of them.
- It is genuinely uncommon while being entirely legible.
- Mildred and Hilda are both commoner and will be written instead.
- It is probably a Victorian construction rather than a survival, though it looks like one.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well as girls in the United States.
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What they receive
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Hildred
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Hildreds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Hildred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hildred in 2025?
- Hildred is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Hildred with classmates?
- Hildred 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 Hildred? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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