Humanverse

Hilbert vs Hillary

American parents have registered 30,305 Hillarys since 1880, against 2,020 Hilberts. Hillary is still ahead, with 67 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Hilbert 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 129 years in which either name was published, Hillary for 92 years and Hilbert for 37 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Hilbert Hillary
Total US births 2,02030,305
Most in one year 832,527
Babies in 2025 under 567
Estimated living today 40029,000
Median age today 7037
Peak year 19221992
Best rank 717th boys132nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked2,583rd
First recorded 19001888
Girls / boys 0 / 2,02029,043 / 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 Hilberts 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: Hilbert and Hillary.