Pilar
Feminine · “pillar”
Pilar is given to both — 5,505 girls and 753 boys since 1880. See Pilar as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Pilar is Spanish for a pillar, recorded here for boys and girls alike. It is a title of the Virgin, and the tradition behind it makes a claim that no other Marian apparition does.
How old is the name Pilar?
Pilar first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Pilar alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 4,700 people named Pilar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pilar most popular?
Pilar peaked in 1924, reaching #1301 nationally. Today it ranks #3296, 1,995 places below that high. See the whole 1924 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Pilar
The tradition says that the apostle James was preaching by the Ebro at Zaragoza, discouraged, and that the Virgin appeared to him there and left behind a column of jasper as a sign. The unusual part is the date: she is said to have been alive in Jerusalem at the time, which makes this a bilocation rather than an apparition after death, and it is the only major Marian devotion that makes that claim. A pillar is kept in the basilica there and is the focus of a festival in October that fills the city. The name is enormously common in Spain and is one of a set taken directly from titles rather than from personal names.
Meaning
pillar
The Spanish word means a pillar or column, and the name comes from a title of the Virgin attached to one. The reading is settled and not disputed.
Pronouncing Pilar
pee-LAR
Two syllables with the weight on the second. English readers regularly stress the first instead.
Nicknames for Pilar
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
- 1896
- Most girls named
- 2005137 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1301reached in 1924
- Change vs 2023
- −2.1%47 in 2025, from 48
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.
Pilar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pilar in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Pilars among us
people named Pilar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,197 born in 2025 was named Pilar
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Oliver test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pilar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Oliver climbed just as high around 1905, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Oliver's path sketches the road Pilar is walking now.
Pilar 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
Where Pilar is headed
Pilar should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Pilar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pilar 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 settled and can be given in one word.
- It is thoroughly ordinary in Spain and genuinely rare in the United States.
- Pili is a ready short form that every Spanish-speaking household recognizes.
- English readers will put the stress in the wrong place on first sight.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to girls but is recorded for boys as well, so a form will occasionally guess wrong.
- It is a strongly religious name in origin, which is a feature for many families and a consideration for others.
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What they receive
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Pilar
Feminine · #3296 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pilars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,700 people named Pilar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pilar in 2025?
- Pilar ranks #3296 among US girl names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pilar?
- About 1 in every 34,197 US girls born in 2025 was named Pilar — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pilar with classmates?
- Pilar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pilar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Neva#3296 · Aleyda#3296 · Kaylor#3296 · Nalia#3296 · Anyeli#3296 · Izabel#3296 · Esmee#3296 · Rhoda#3296
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pilar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pilar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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