Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German hild ('war' or 'battle') and gard ('enclosure' or 'yard'), 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.
Notable people with the name
- Hildegard (music duo), 2021 electronic music project by Canadian musicians Helena Deland and Ouri
- Princess Hildegard of Bavaria (1825âÂÂ1864), Bavarian royal
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098âÂÂ1179), Christian saint
- Hildegarde of Burgundy (c. 1056 â 1104), French noble
- Hildegard of Fraumünster (828âÂÂ856 or 859), daughter of Louis the German and first abbess of Fraumünster
- Hildegard, second wife of Charlemagne
- Hildegard, Countess of Auvergne or Matilda (c. 802âÂÂ841), daughter of Emperor Louis the Pious and Ermengarde of Hesbaye
- Hildegard Appeltauer (1927âÂÂ2017), Austrian figure skater and Olympian
- Hildegard Bachert (1921âÂÂ2019), German-born American art dealer and gallery director
- Hildegard Bechtler (born 1951), German costume and set designer
- Hildegard Behrens (1937âÂÂ2009), German opera singer
- Hildegard Bentele (born 1967), German politician
- Hildegard Björck (1847âÂÂ1920), Swedish academic pioneer
- Hildegard Breiner, Austrian anti-nuclear activist
- Hildegard Brom-Fischer (1908âÂÂ2001), Dutch textile artist, specializing in ecclesiastical embroidery
- Hildegard Burjan (1883âÂÂ1933), German Roman Catholic convert from Judaism and the founder of the Sisterhood of Caritas Socialis
- Hildegard Damerius (1910âÂÂ2006), German lawyer and politician
- Hildegard Embacher (born 1967), Austrian cross-country skier and Olympian
- Hildegard Falck (born 1949), German middle distance runner and Olympic medalist
- Hildegard Fässler (born 1951), Swiss politician
- Hildegard Feldmann (1936âÂÂ1990), Swiss nurse and Catholic lay missionary who was active in India and Colombia
- Hildegarde Flanner (1899âÂÂ1987), American poet and activist
- Hildegard Goebbels (1934âÂÂ1945), daughter and murder victim of Nazi Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels and Magda Goebbels
- Hildegard Goss-Mayr (born 1930), Austrian nonviolent activist and Christian theologian
- Hildegard Grethe (1898âÂÂ1961), German actress
- Hildegard Grill (1927âÂÂ2023), Austrian gymnast and Olympian
- Hildegard Hess (1920âÂÂ2014), German chemist
- Hildegard Hamm-Brücher (1921âÂÂ2016), German politician
- Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel (1944âÂÂ2024), German academic
- Hildegard Heichele (born 1947), German soprano in opera, concert and recital
- Hildegarde Howard (1901âÂÂ1998), American paleornithologist
- Hildegard Jadamowitz (1916âÂÂ1942), German communist activist and a member of the German resistance against National Socialism
- Hildegard Jone (1891âÂÂ1963), Austrian poet and artist
- Hildegard Joos (1909âÂÂ2005), Austrian painter
- Hildegard Kleeb (born 1957), Swiss pianist
- Hilde Klusenwerth (1910âÂÂ1999), German hurdler and Olympian
- Hildegarde Kneeland (1889âÂÂ1994), American economist and statistician
- Hildegard Knef (1925âÂÂ2002), German actress, singer and writer
- Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl (1908âÂÂ1968), German-born American physicist
- Hildegard Korger (1935âÂÂ2018), Czech master calligrapher, scholar and professor
- Hildegard Körner (born 1959), East German middle distance runner and Olympian
- Hildegard Krekel (1952âÂÂ2013), German actress
- Hildegard Lächert (1920âÂÂ1995), German Nazi concentration camp guard
- Hildegard Lamfrom (1922âÂÂ1984), German-American molecular biologist/biochemist
- Hildegard Lehnert (1857âÂÂ1943), German painter
- Hildegard Lewy (1903âÂÂ1969), Romanian Assyriologist and academic
- Hildegarde Dolson Lockridge (1908âÂÂ1981), poet, playwright and novelist
- Hildegard Löwy (1922âÂÂ1943), German Jewish office worker and member of the anti-Nazi resistance
- Hildegard Mende (1922âÂÂ?), German Nazi concentration camp guard
- Hildegarde Naughton (born 1977), Irish politician and mayor of Galway
- Hildegarde Neil (1939âÂÂ2023), South African-born English actress
- Hildegard Neuffer-Stavenhagen (1866âÂÂ1939), German writer with a focus on children's literature and education
- Hildegard Neumann (born 1919 â c. 2010), German Nazi and concentration camp overseer
- Hildegard Maria Nickel (born 1948), German sociologist and feminist
- Hildegard Ochse (1935âÂÂ1997), German photographer
- Hildegard Peplau (1909âÂÂ1999), American nurse
- Hildegard Puwak (1949âÂÂ2018), Romanian politician
- Hildegard Ranczak (1895âÂÂ1987), Bohemian operatic soprano
- Hildegard Maria Rauchfuà(1918âÂÂ2000), German writer
- Hildegard Reinhardt (born 1942), German translator and art historian
- Hildegart RodrÃÂguez Carballeira (1914âÂÂ1933, Spanish activist for socialism and sexual revolution
- Hildegard Rosenthal (1913âÂÂ1990), Swiss-born Brazilian photographer
- Hildegard Rothe-Ille (1899âÂÂ1942), German mathematician
- Hildegard Rütgers (born 1930), German classical contralto singer in opera and concert
- Hildegard Schaeder (1902âÂÂ1984), German theologian and church historian
- Hilde Schrader (1910âÂÂ1966), German swimmer and Olympian
- Hildegarde Sell (1906âÂÂ2005), American cabaret singer known as Hildegarde
- Hildegard Sellhuber (born 1950), retired German speed skater and Olympian
- Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling (1908âÂÂ1981), German-Danish tennis player
- Hildegard Stücklen (1891âÂÂ1963), German-American physicist who dealt with spectroscopy
- Hildegard Temporini-Gräfin Vitzthum (1939âÂÂ2004), German classical historian and writer
- Hildegard Thorell (1850âÂÂ1930), Swedish painter
- Hildegard Trabant (1927âÂÂ1964), East German woman shot and killed while trying to cross over the Berlin Wall into West Germany
- Hildegard Vieregg (born 1939), German museologist and museum professional, an educator, a university professor and lecturer, author, editor and administrator
- Hilda (Hildegarde) Vëka (1897âÂÂ1963), Latvian artist and writer
- Hildegard Werner (1834âÂÂ1911), Swedish musician, musical conductor, and journalist active in Great Britain
- Hildegard Westerkamp (born 1946), German-born Canadian composer, radio artist, teacher, and sound ecologist
- Hildegard Woodward (1898âÂÂ1977), American children's book author and illustrator
- Hildegard Wortmann (born 1966), German business executive
Notable fictional characters
- Hildegarde Antoinette "Hilda" Spellman, a character in the comic book Sabrina the Teenage Witch and subsequent television series
- Hildegarde (Marvel Comics), a Valkyrie
- Hildegarde Withers, in novels and films
- Hildegard von Krone, from the Soul series of fighting games
- Hildegard von Mariendorf, from Legend of the Galactic Heroes
- Hildegarde T., from the anime and manga series Beelzebub by RyÃ
«hei Tamura
- Hildegarde, in the Johann Strauss operetta Simplicius
- Hildegard 'Hildy' Johnson, from 1940 American comedy film His Girl Friday
- Princess Hildegard, from the Disney animated series Sofia the First
- Hildegarde, from the game Catan (web/app version)
- Hildegard; 'Devout Oracle' from the mobile game Dragalia Lost
- Hildegarde (Hilda) from the manga and anime series Beelzebub Beelzebub (manga)
- Hildegard Hamhocker, a character in Tumbleweeds (comic strip)
- Hildegard "Hildy" Gloom, witch and main antagonist of The 7D
References