Humanverse

Hillard vs Hillary

American parents have registered 30,305 Hillarys since 1880, against 2,356 Hillards. Hillary is still ahead, with 67 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Hillard against Hillary, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Hillard 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 138 years in which either name was published, Hillary for 87 years and Hillard for 51 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Hillard Hillary
Total US births 2,35630,305
Most in one year 822,527
Babies in 2025 under 567
Estimated living today 56029,000
Median age today 7037
Peak year 19261992
Best rank 699th boys132nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked2,583rd
First recorded 18801888
Girls / boys 0 / 2,35629,043 / 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 Hillards alive today are over 70; half the Hillarys are over 37. That is 33 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Hillard and Hillary.