Hillary
- Pronunciation
- [Hi-lla-ry]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Joyful: Glad.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Hillary
Hillary is a bright, classic name meaning "joyful" or "glad," descending from the Latin hilaris — the same root that gives us "hilarious" and "exhilarate." That cheerful etymology lends the name a sunny, upbeat character, while its long history of use gives it a polished, traditional feel. It is a name that carries warmth and good humor built right into its very origins.
The name is strongly associated with Hillary Clinton (born 1947), the American politician, attorney, and diplomat whose decades in public life included service from 1993 to 2001 as First Lady of the United States. Her prominence has made the name instantly recognizable, attaching to it a sense of ambition, resilience, and engagement with public affairs that few other names of its generation carry. It is a name that carries both cheer and gravity, lightness and real-world weight. The pairing of a luminous Latin meaning with a familiar, polished sound gives it lasting, balanced appeal.
Hillary entered the US Social Security top-1000 for girls in 2000 and reached its peak in 2008 at rank #722 — its strongest year on record, with 412 girls given the name. It last appeared in the top-1000 in 2008, with roughly 2,066 girls given the name across that span. The variant Hilaria is also recorded.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Hillary
US Popularity History (2000–2008)
Annual US births named Hillary by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2008 with 412 girls named Hillary (girl rank #722 that year).
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Famous People Named Hillary
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Hillary.
- Hillary Clinton — Politician (1947)
Looking for names like Hillary?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Hillary to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Hillary against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
Hillary Baby Name Ideas
- 27 Powerful Baby Names After Famous Politicians And World Leaders
- 35 Gorgeous Girl Names Inspired By American First Ladies
- 35 Adventurous Boy Names Inspired By World Explorers
- 100 Celebrity Baby Names After Famous Celebrities
- 20 Bold Baby Names Inspired By Most Powerful People
- 42 Smart Baby Names after Famous Thinkers and Artists
- 128 Baby Girl Names Meaning Happiness and Joyful