Hilda

Last updated
Hilda
Three-year old Hilda.jpg
Hilda, a three-year-old American girl, was photographed by Lewis Hine for a report on child labor as she picked sugar beets in Wisconsin in July, 1915. Her name ranked 104th when Hilda was born in 1912.
Pronunciation /ˈhɪldə/ HIL-də
GenderFeminine
Origin
Word/name Hild
Meaning Battle
Other names
Related names Hilde, Hildur, Hildy
Saint Hilda at Hartlepool by James Clark. Detail from St. Hilda at Hartlepool by James Clark (Oil Painting).jpg
Saint Hilda at Hartlepool by James Clark.
Hilda and the Doves, an illustration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun. Marble Faun, 1888 - Hilda and the Doves.jpg
Hilda and the Doves, an illustration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Marble Faun .
An illustration for Hilda Wade by Grant Allen. Frontispiece--Hilda Wade.png
An illustration for Hilda Wade by Grant Allen.

Hilda is one of several feminine given names derived from the name Hild, formed from Old Norse hildr, meaning 'battle'. Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, [1] was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was often called Hild's Game. [2] Hilda of Whitby was an early Christian saint.

Contents

Hylda is a spelling variant. Hilde is a variant of Hilda. Another variation on Hild is Hildur. [3] [4] [5] Hildy is an English nickname. Ildikó is a Hungarian form of the name. Related names include Brunhilde, Brynhild, Hildebrand, Hildegard, Gunhild, Krimhild, and Mathilde.

Cultural influences

The name became rare in England during the later Middle Ages, but was revived in the 19th century. [6] Several English-language popular 19th century novelists used the name Hilda for their heroines. Hilda Scarve was the romantic heroine of the 1842 novel The Miser's Daughter by William Harrison Ainsworth. Nathaniel Hawthorne used the name Hilda for the innocent art student heroine of his 1860 novel The Marble Faun . Hilda Van Gleck is a wealthy girl in Mary Mapes Dodge’s 1865 children’s novel Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates . The hero wants to impress Hilda by winning a race. Hilda Wade by author Grant Allen was published in 1900. In the crime fiction novel, heroine Hilda refuses to marry a man unless he helps solve the murder of her father.

More recent cultural influences include the Netflix animated series Hilda , which aired from 2018 to 2023, and characters in the 2013 video game The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and the 2022 video game Asterigos: Curse of the Stars . [7]

Usage

In Sweden the name Hilda has been in use since the late 18th century, being a popular name throughout the 19th century. The name has come back into fashion in Sweden, where Hilda has been among the 100 most popular names for newborn Swedish girls since 2001. [8] It is also currently well-used for girls in Finland, where Hilda has been among the 50 most popular names for Finnish girls since 2014. [9]

The name was also well-used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in countries such as Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Latvia, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom. [10] [11]

Hilda was the 198th most popular name for American girls born in 1880 in the United States. The name peaked in popularity in the United States in 1903, when it was the 88th most popular name for American girls. Hilda remained among the 1,000 most popular names for American girls until 1986. Between 1987 and 2017, the name was most commonly used among Hispanic American families. The name reached the lowest point of use in the United States in 2013, when it was used for 33 newborn American girls.

There were 60 newborn American girls given the name in 2022 and 56 American girls given the name in 2023. [12]

Hilda is the name of:

People

Fictional characters

Space

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloe</span> Name list

Chloe, also spelled Chloë, Chlöe, or Chloé, is a feminine name meaning "blooming" or "fertility" in Greek. The name ultimately derives, through Greek, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰelh₃-, which relates to the colors yellow and green. The common scientific prefix chloro- derives from the same Greek root. In Greek the word refers to the young, green foliage or shoots of plants in spring.

Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German hild and gard, and means 'battle enclosure'. Variant spellings include: Hildegarde; the Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish Hildegarda; the Italian Ildegarda; the Hungarian Hildegárd; and the ancient German Hildegardis.

Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word ēad, meaning wealth or prosperity, in combination with the Old English gȳð, meaning strife, and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and variations of this name include Ditte, Dita, and Edie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aurora (given name)</span> Name list

Aurora is a feminine given name, originating from the name of the ancient Roman goddess of dawn Aurora. Her tears were said to turn into the morning dew. Each morning she traveled in her chariot across the sky from east to west, proclaiming renewal with the rising of the sun. The Romans also associated the Northern Lights, or the Aurora borealis, with the goddess. Aurora is also traditionally the name of the princess in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty and the many works of art it has inspired. The tale of a cursed princess who slept for one hundred years and was awakened by the kiss of a prince might be considered a modern retelling of the ancient story of Aurora the dawn goddess, whose myths also include stories of a long sleep and an awakening at dawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophia (given name)</span> Name list

Sophia, also spelled Sofia, is a feminine given name, from Greek Σοφία, Sophía, "Wisdom". Other forms include Sophie, Sophy, and Sofie. The given name is first recorded in the beginning of the 4th century. It is a common female name in the Eastern Orthodox countries. It became very popular in the West beginning in the later 1990s and became one of the most popularly given girls' names in the Western world in the first decades of the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer (given name)</span> Name list

Jennifer, also spelled Jenifer or Jenefer, is a feminine given name, the Cornish form of Guinevere, that became popular in the English-speaking world in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel (given name)</span> Female given name

Hazel is a primarily female given name meaning "hazel", from the name of the tree or the color. It is derived from the Old English hæsel. It became a popular name in English-speaking countries during the 19th century, along with other names of plants or trees used for girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily (given name)</span> Name list

Emily is a feminine given name derived from the Roman family name "Aemilius", and is the feminine form of the name Emil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iris (given name)</span> Name list

Iris is a feminine name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth (given name)</span> Name list

Ruth is a common female given name, noted from Ruth, the eponymous heroine of the Book of Ruth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tammy (given name)</span> Name list

Tammy is a feminine given name. It can be a short form of the names Tamsin, Thomasina, Thomasin, or Tamar, Tamara or other names starting with Tam. Tamsin, Thomasina, and Thomasin are feminine versions of the name Thomas, a Greek form of the Aramaic name Te'oma, meaning twin. Tamara is a Russian form of the Hebrew name Tamar, which means "palm tree". In Israel "Tami" (תמי) is commonly used as an abbreviation of the original Hebrew name.

Ida is a feminine given name found in Europe and North America. It is popular in Scandinavian countries, where it is pronounced Ee-da.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivy (name)</span> Name list

Ivy is a given name or surname taken from the name of the plant. It became popular as a given name in the late 1800s along with other plant and flower names for girls. As a given name for girls, Ivy first entered the Top 200 in England and Wales in 1880, when it ranked #180, and reached the height of popularity when it was the 16th most popular name in England and Wales in 1904. It has again risen in popularity and, as of 2020, Ivy was the sixth most popular girls' name in England and Wales. It has also risen in popularity in other English speaking countries. It has ranked among the top 50 names for newborn American girls since 2021 and was the 42nd most used name for girls there in 2022. In 2022, it was the 33rd most popular name given to girls in Canada. Other botanical names are also currently fashionable, as are other names that contain the letter v.

Brenda is a feminine given name in the English language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camilla (given name)</span> Name list

Camilla or Camila is a feminine given name. It originates as the feminine of camillus, a term for a youth serving as acolyte in the ritual of ancient Roman religion, which may be of Etruscan origin. Hypocorisms of the name include Milly, Millie, and Milla.

Luca is a masculine given name used mainly in Latin America, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania. It is derived from the Latin name Lucas. It may also come from the Latin word "lucus" meaning "sacred wood". The name is common among Christians as a result of Luke the Evangelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonora (given name)</span> Name list

Leonora is a feminine given name which is a variation of Eleanor. It was relatively common in the 19th century in Western countries, ranking as the 314th most popular female given name in the United States in 1880. The name has declined in popularity but remains in use. Sixty-four newborn American girls were given the name in 2020.

Hildur is one of several female given names derived from the name Hild formed from Old Norse hildr, meaning "battle". Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was often called Hild's Game. Hildur is rather exclusively used in Nordic counties, but the more recent variations with the same origin, Hilda and Hilde, are in wider use. The Swedish name day for Hildur and Hilda is 18 January.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phyllis</span> Name list

Phyllis or Phillis is a feminine given name of Greek origin meaning foliage. Phyllis is a minor figure in Greek mythology who killed herself in despair when Demophon of Athens did not return to her and who was transformed into an almond tree by the gods. Phillida, Phyllicia, and Phyllida are all variants of the name.

Nova is a given name of Latin origin meaning "new".

References

  1. Heinrich Wilhelm Schütz (1837). Kleines Namen-Lexikon oder kurzgefasste Erklärungen der merkwürdigsten Orts- und Personennamen: mit Einschluss nicht weiniger Länder-, Völker-, Gebirgs- und Flussnamen (in German). Feister. pp. 34–. Hild, nordisch-deutsche Bellona, dann auch Krieg überhaupt ...
  2. Scandinavian Classics. Vol. 27. American Scandinavian Foundation. 1927. p. 303. Warfare and battle had numerous designations after the Valkyries; "Hild's Game" is especially common.
  3. Nancy L. Coleman; Olav Veka (9 December 2010). A Handbook of Scandinavian Names . Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp.  10–. ISBN   978-0-299-24833-8.
  4. Bengt af Klintberg (30 January 2014). Namnen i almanackan (in Swedish). Norstedts. pp. 35–. ISBN   978-91-7297-039-7.
  5. Teresa Norman (1 July 2003). World of Baby Names, A (Revised). Penguin. pp. 498–. ISBN   978-1-4406-2556-5.
  6. Patrick Hanks; Kate Hardcastle; Flavia Hodges (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. pp. 224–. ISBN   978-0-19-861060-1.
  7. Evans, Cleveland Kent (17 November 2024). "Evans: Paying homage to wise women on St. Hilda's Day". omaha.com. Omaha World Herald. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  8. "Popularity for the name Hilda - Behind the Name".
  9. "Popularity for the name Hilda - Behind the Name".
  10. "Popularity for the name Hilda - Behind the Name".
  11. "Top German Baby Names in the 1900s".
  12. Evans, Cleveland Kent (17 November 2024). "Evans: Paying homage to wise women on St. Hilda's Day". omaha.com. Omaha World Herald. Retrieved 22 December 2024.