Mildred
Feminine · “gentle strength”
Mildred is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 451,415 girls against 1,583 boys since 1880. See Mildred as a boy name
Mildred is one word made of two that pull against each other: the Old English for gentle and the Old English for strength or power. Germanic names were assembled from a family's stock of elements rather than composed as statements, but this pairing turns up often enough, and reads as deliberate often enough, that it is worth taking seriously as a combination rather than an accident.
How old is the name Mildred?
Mildred was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mildred alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. About 69,000 people named Mildred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mildred most popular?
Mildred peaked in 1912, reaching #6 nationally. Today it ranks #1962, 1,956 places below that high. See the whole 1912 chart.
Where it comes from
From Two Old English elements, gentle and strength to Mildred
The story of Mildred
The saint who carried it was an abbess in Kent, from a family that produced several of them, at a period when a royal woman entering religion was a political act as much as a spiritual one: an abbess controlled land, revenue and a household, and answered to very few people. Her relics were moved, disputed, claimed by two different houses and fought over for centuries afterwards, which is a reliable sign that they were considered valuable. The name survived the conquest, which almost no Anglo-Saxon woman's name did, and was still being given quietly through the medieval period before a large Victorian revival put it back into general use. Its second element is the same one that stands inside a handful of other Old English women's names, most of which are now gone entirely.
Meaning
gentle strength
Two Old English elements, one meaning mild or gentle and one meaning strength, power or might. Both are securely identified and the reading is not disputed. The second element is one of the most productive in Anglo-Saxon women's names and appears in a long list of them, most of which did not survive the Norman conquest. This one did, which is the unusual part.
How the name formed
- Two Old English elements, gentle and strength
- An abbess in Kent whose relics were fought over
- Surviving the conquest when most such names did not
- A large Victorian and Edwardian revival
Related forms: Mildrid · Mildred
Pronouncing Mildred
MIL-drid
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced almost to nothing. The spelling with an e in the second syllable records a vowel that was fully pronounced a thousand years ago and has not been for a very long time.
Nicknames for Mildred
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 192117,880 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #6reached in 1912
- Change vs 2022
- −9.3%98 in 2025, from 108
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.
Mildred in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mildrid in German — related form
- Mildred in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Mildreds among us
people named Mildred are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 16,401 born in 2025 was named Mildred
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
Mildred has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Mildred is headed
Mildred should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Mildred beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mildred in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is genuinely Anglo-Saxon, which very few names in ordinary use can claim.
- Millie is waiting inside it and is thoroughly fashionable again.
- The meaning is short, memorable and pleasantly contradictory.
- It is strongly associated with one American generation and reads as elderly to most people under fifty.
- The sound is heavier than the current fashion for women's names allows for.
- The spelling is on the register for boys as well, in very small numbers.
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Mildred
Feminine · #1962 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mildreds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 69,000 people named Mildred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mildred in 2025?
- Mildred ranks #1962 among US girl names in 2025, with 98 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mildred?
- About 1 in every 16,401 US girls born in 2025 was named Mildred — 98 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mildred with classmates?
- Mildred will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mildred
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Romee#1962 · Janiya#1962 · Lucianna#1962 · Stormy#1962 · Asiyah#1962 · Kaori#1962 · Alanni#1962 · Tia#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mildred? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mildred and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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