Hildred

Meaning of Hildred

Hildred, pronounced HIL-dred (/ˈhɪl.drɛd/), is a feminine given name of Old English origin, formed from the compound elements hild (“battle”) and ræd (“counsel”), whose semantic fusion historically signified strategic valor. In Anglo-American onomastic scholarship, it is prized for its disyllabic trochaic stress pattern and phonetic concision, attributes that yield a crisply measured prosody. Tennessee vital-statistics data from 1915 through 1929 record intermittent usage—peaking at eleven newborns in 1928 (rank 127)—suggesting modest regional persistence rather than widespread adoption. The name’s decline after the Edwardian era underscores its rarity in contemporary naming practices, a quality that appeals to parents seeking a technically rich, historically grounded appellation.