Hildagarde vs Hillary
American parents have registered 30,305 Hillarys since 1880, against 206 Hildagardes. Hillary is still ahead, with 67 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Hildagarde Hillary
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 128 years in which either name was published, Hillary for 123 years and Hildagarde for 5 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.
- 1888–1898 Hillary ahead
- 1899 Hildagarde ahead
- 1903 Hillary ahead
- 1904–1905 Hildagarde ahead
- 1907–1915 Hillary ahead
- 1916 Hildagarde ahead
- 1917–1918 Hillary ahead
- 1919 Hildagarde ahead
- 1920–2025 Hillary ahead
Side by side
| Hildagarde | Hillary | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 206 | 30,305 |
| Most in one year | 17 | 2,527 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 67 |
| Estimated living today | 7 | 29,000 |
| Median age today | 90 | 37 |
| Peak year | 1916 | 1992 |
| Best rank | 1,949th girls | 132nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 2,583rd |
| First recorded | 1898 | 1888 |
| Girls / boys | 206 / 0 | 29,043 / 1,262 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Hildagardes alive today are over 90; half the Hillarys are over 37. That is 53 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Hildagarde and Hillary.