Humanverse

Hill vs Hilton

American parents have registered 6,990 Hiltons since 1880, against 577 Hills. Hilton is still ahead, with 18 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Hill against Hilton, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Hill Hilton

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 141 years in which either name was published, Hilton for 137 years and Hill for 4 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Hill Hilton
Total US births 5776,990
Most in one year 21143
Babies in 2025 618
Estimated living today 2003,100
Median age today 2856
Peak year 19191920
Best rank 1,624th boys521st boys
Rank in 2025 10,695th6,446th
First recorded 18841882
Girls / boys 0 / 57765 / 6,925

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 Hiltons alive today are over 56; half the Hills are over 28. That is 28 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: Hill and Hilton.