Girl or boy · Latin
Hilary
Say it: HIL-uh-ree
Meaning
Latin Hilarius, from hilaris 'cheerful'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A male saint's name in the Middle Ages; in English it became mainly a girls' name in the 20th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1990s
In the United States
- 26,181 babies given this name since 1882
- At its height in 1990, about 1 in 1,600 girls
- 22 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Hillary
| French | Hilaire |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Hilario |
| Italian | Ilario |
| Portuguese | Hilário |
| German | Hilarius |
| Polish | Hilary |
| Russian | Ilariy |
Famous bearers
- Hilary of Poitiers, 4th-century bishop
- Hilary Mantel, English novelist
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.