Hilda

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Alda in PT Portugal, UY Uruguay, IT Italy, הילדה in IL Israel, DE Germany and Hilde in NO Norway.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Hilda is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name806K records spelled Hilda19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Venezuela, United Kingdom, Brazil

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Hildae, Híldá, Hiĺda, Hildà, Hildä

• Finnish given name83K records spelled Hilda4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, Slovenia, United States

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Hildá

• a separate given name36K records spelled Hilda4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Also written Hīldā, Hilḍā, Hildá

• Indonesian given name27K records spelled Hilda5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Peru

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Hilda, Hilda', Hîldâ

• Norwegian Bokmål given name17K records spelled Hilda62 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Czechia, United States, Poland

  Languages: Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian, Czech

  Also written Hilde, Альда, Хильда, Хилда, Alda

• Lao given name2.8K records spelled Hilda4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, United States, Thailand, Peru

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Hildá, Híldá

63 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Hilda is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A female given name from the Germanic languages used since Middle Ages.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Spanish, Germánico; de Hildr, nombre de una valquiria, quizá ligado a hild ‘combate, batalla’.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• In Swedish, Hilda är ett nordiskt och samgermanskt namn, ursprungligen en smekform till namn på Hild(e)- och → -hild. Hilde är en dansk och norsk form. I den rikssvenska almanackan 18 januari och i den finlandssvenska 22 februari.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In French, Origine germanique, de la racine hild- «combat»; forme simple d’un ancien prénom féminin germanique.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Germanique, souvent rattaché à hild « combat ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Princess Hilda of Nassaub. 1864DEGrand Duchess of Baden (1864 - 1952)
• H.D.b. 1886USnot in their usual nameAmerican Imagist poet (1886–1961)
• Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourgb. 1894LUnot in their usual nameGrand Duchess of Luxembourg from 1912 to 1919
• Margaret Thatcherb. 1925GBnot in their usual nameBritish stateswoman and prime minister (1925–2013)
• Hilda Gadea Acostab. 1925PEPeruvian economist, Communist leader, and author, 1925-1974
• Virginia Bottomleyb. 1948GBnot in their usual nameBritish politician (born 1948)
• Joyce Bandab. 1950MWnot in their usual name4th President of Malawi
• Hilda Heineb. 1951MHMarshallese politician
• Hilda Solisb. 1957US25th United States Secretary of Labor
• Noomi Rapaceb. 1979SEnot in their usual nameSwedish actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,233 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Hilda?

We estimate roughly 162 thousand people bear Hilda (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Hilda have the most bearers?

Hilda is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled hilda.

Where is Hilda most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Hilda is densest in Norway — about 1 in 308 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Hilda compared with other names?

In Argentina, Hilda is the 267th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Hilda a male or female name?

Hilda is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Hilda mean?

Recorded meaning: Anglo-Saxon, probably ‘war’; not a common name in Ireland.