Hillman
From a surname of English origin meaning "man from the hill".
Name Census estimates that about 86 living Americans carry the first name Hillman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hillman today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hillman births was 1916 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hillman. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Hillman is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hillmans were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hillman. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
86
~ 1 in 3,985,516 Americans
Peak year
1916
19 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1993 SSA rank
#9,266
Tracked since 1910
Census
Hillman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 187 people with the first name Hillman, which placed it at #40,012 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#40,012
National first-name rank
People counted
187
187 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hillman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hillman is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (29.4%) and Hispanic (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hillman described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hillman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.8% · 110
- Black or African American29.4% · 55
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 11
- Two or more races3.2% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Hillman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hillman from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 101 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hillman by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Hillman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hillmans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hillman
The name Hillman is an English surname that has its origins in the Old English words "hyll" meaning hill and "mann" meaning man, essentially translating to "a man who lived on or near a hill." This name came into existence during the medieval period in England, when surnames were adopted to distinguish people living in the same area.
The earliest recorded use of Hillman as a given name can be traced back to the 16th century in England, where it was likely used as a nickname or descriptive name for someone who lived on a hill or worked in a hill-related occupation.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Hillman was Hillman Everard, an English landowner and Member of Parliament who lived from 1554 to 1633. Another notable figure was Hillman Browne, an English judge and legal scholar who lived from 1590 to 1653.
In the 17th century, the name appears in historical records, such as the baptismal records of St. Mary's Church in Warwick, England, which mention a Hillman Leighton born in 1627.
The 18th century saw the name Hillman gain popularity, with individuals like Hillman Dickinson (1712-1788), an American merchant and landowner, and Hillman Malloree (1745-1823), a British naval officer and explorer.
In the 19th century, the name continued to be used, with notable individuals like Hillman Rockwell (1813-1897), an American painter known for his portraits and landscapes, and Hillman Holley (1832-1911), an American engineer and inventor who contributed to the development of the cotton industry.
While the name Hillman is not as common today as it once was, it remains a part of the English naming tradition, reflecting the rich history and linguistic heritage of the language.
People
Hillman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hillman as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hillman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hillman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 86 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hillman going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,985,516 US residents.
Is Hillman a common name?
We classify Hillman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 344 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hillman most popular?
The single biggest year for Hillman was 1916, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hillman is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hillman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 187 people with the name Hillman, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,012 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hillman in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hillman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hillman leans strongly male. 187 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 8 female bearers (4.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hillman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hillman is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (29.4%) and Hispanic (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hillman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hillman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.8% (110 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Hillman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hillman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hillman in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Hillman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hillman in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Hillman can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Hillman?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Hillman at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.