Hilda
From the old Germanic word *hild*, "battle", the same root sitting inside Hildegarda and Brunhilda. It stays rare in Poland: only a few hundred women carry it, and most Poles have never met one. A short, blunt name with no diminutive and no masculine twin.
Hilda Pronunciation
Hilda is pronounced KHEEL-dah (/ˈxilda/).
What Hilda means
Where Hilda comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Hilda comes from the old Germanic word hild, which meant battle. The same element built other names across the German and Scandinavian world, so you meet it again inside Hildegarda and Brunhilda, always keeping that martial sense of walka, bitwa. On its own the name is short and blunt, one idea standing without ornament, and it takes no diminutive or masculine twin.
That idea had famous bearers. Hilda of Whitby, the seventh-century abbess who hosted the synod that helped shape the English church, wore a name built on conflict while she ran a house of scholars. The contrast is part of the appeal.
In a Polish class register today the name looks foreign beside Zofia and Lena, and that is why some families reach for it. It marks a child as slightly apart. The meaning waits underneath the spelling: battle, plain and unhedged, straight from the Germanic hild.
How many people are named Hilda
1 in 99751 women in Poland is named Hilda. 226 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2070 among female names.
Hilda's popularity over time
2 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1594 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2024.
Hilda as a middle name
Hilda is a first name for 226 women in Poland and a middle name for another 102, a 69/31 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 658th, between Joan (103) and Raisa (102).
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#656 Walburga104
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#657 Joan103
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#658 Hilda102
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#659 Raisa102
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#660 Anna Maria101