Hilary
From Latin, with a meaning as bright as it sounds: cheerful, merry. In Poland it stays rare and mostly male, carried by only around 460 people and given to almost no newborns now.
Hilary Pronunciation
Hilary is pronounced khee-LAH-rih (/xiˈlarɨ/).
What Hilary means
Where Hilary comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Hilary begins in Latin, in the adjective hilaris, meaning cheerful and merry. The Roman name Hilarius grew straight from it, and the English word hilarious shares the same root. So the name means what it says: someone glad, someone of good humour.
Hilary of Poitiers, a bishop of the fourth century, carried the name into the Christian calendar, which is why it keeps a place among the saints. The feminine and cross-gender form Hilaria stands beside it, used for women in the Roman world and after.
In Poland the name is uncommon now. A teacher reading the class register might pause on Hilary before moving on. Yet the meaning stays bright and unchanged, cheerful and merry.
The short meaning is not a later gloss here. It is the origin itself. Hilary means merry.
When Hilary celebrates name day
Hilary appears 10 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 14 January.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Hilary
1 in 48295 men in Poland is named Hilary. 462 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1375 among male names.
Hilary's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.
Hilary as a middle name
Hilary is a first name for 462 men in Poland and a middle name for another 453, a 50/50 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 331st, between Bogusz (454) and Jonathan (452).
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#329 Dieter460
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#330 Bogusz454
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#331 Hilary453
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#332 Jonathan452
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#333 Frank450