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 (1825–1864), Bavarian royal
  • Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), Christian saint
  • Hildegarde of Burgundy (c. 1056 – 1104), French noble
  • Hildegard of Fraumünster (828–856 or 859), daughter of Louis the German and first abbess of Fraumünster
  • Hildegard, second wife of Charlemagne
  • Hildegard, Countess of Auvergne or Matilda (c. 802–841), daughter of Emperor Louis the Pious and Ermengarde of Hesbaye
  • Hildegard Appeltauer (1927–2017), Austrian figure skater and Olympian
  • Hildegard Bachert (1921–2019), German-born American art dealer and gallery director
  • Hildegard Bechtler (born 1951), German costume and set designer
  • Hildegard Behrens (1937–2009), German opera singer
  • Hildegard Bentele (born 1967), German politician
  • Hildegard Björck (1847–1920), Swedish academic pioneer
  • Hildegard Breiner, Austrian anti-nuclear activist
  • Hildegard Brom-Fischer (1908–2001), Dutch textile artist, specializing in ecclesiastical embroidery
  • Hildegard Burjan (1883–1933), German Roman Catholic convert from Judaism and the founder of the Sisterhood of Caritas Socialis
  • Hildegard Damerius (1910–2006), 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 (1936–1990), Swiss nurse and Catholic lay missionary who was active in India and Colombia
  • Hildegarde Flanner (1899–1987), American poet and activist
  • Hildegard Goebbels (1934–1945), 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 (1898–1961), German actress
  • Hildegard Grill (1927–2023), Austrian gymnast and Olympian
  • Hildegard Hess (1920–2014), German chemist
  • Hildegard Hamm-Brücher (1921–2016), German politician
  • Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel (1944–2024), German academic
  • Hildegard Heichele (born 1947), German soprano in opera, concert and recital
  • Hildegarde Howard (1901–1998), American paleornithologist
  • Hildegard Jadamowitz (1916–1942), German communist activist and a member of the German resistance against National Socialism
  • Hildegard Jone (1891–1963), Austrian poet and artist
  • Hildegard Joos (1909–2005), Austrian painter
  • Hildegard Kleeb (born 1957), Swiss pianist
  • Hilde Klusenwerth (1910–1999), German hurdler and Olympian
  • Hildegarde Kneeland (1889–1994), American economist and statistician
  • Hildegard Knef (1925–2002), German actress, singer and writer
  • Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl (1908–1968), German-born American physicist
  • Hildegard Korger (1935–2018), Czech master calligrapher, scholar and professor
  • Hildegard Körner (born 1959), East German middle distance runner and Olympian
  • Hildegard Krekel (1952–2013), German actress
  • Hildegard Lächert (1920–1995), German Nazi concentration camp guard
  • Hildegard Lamfrom (1922–1984), German-American molecular biologist/biochemist
  • Hildegard Lehnert (1857–1943), German painter
  • Hildegard Lewy (1903–1969), Romanian Assyriologist and academic
  • Hildegarde Dolson Lockridge (1908–1981), poet, playwright and novelist
  • Hildegard Löwy (1922–1943), German Jewish office worker and member of the anti-Nazi resistance
  • Hildegard Mende (1922–?), German Nazi concentration camp guard
  • Hildegarde Naughton (born 1977), Irish politician and mayor of Galway
  • Hildegarde Neil (1939–2023), South African-born English actress
  • Hildegard Neuffer-Stavenhagen (1866–1939), German writer with a focus on children's literature and education
  • Hildegard Neumann (born 1919 – c. 2010), German Nazi and concentration camp overseer
  • Hildegard Maria Nickel (born 1948), German sociologist and feminist
  • Hildegard Ochse (1935–1997), German photographer
  • Hildegard Peplau (1909–1999), American nurse
  • Hildegard Puwak (1949–2018), Romanian politician
  • Hildegard Ranczak (1895–1987), Bohemian operatic soprano
  • Hildegard Maria Rauchfuß (1918–2000), German writer
  • Hildegard Reinhardt (born 1942), German translator and art historian
  • Hildegart Rodríguez Carballeira (1914–1933, Spanish activist for socialism and sexual revolution
  • Hildegard Rosenthal (1913–1990), Swiss-born Brazilian photographer
  • Hildegard Rothe-Ille (1899–1942), German mathematician
  • Hildegard Rütgers (born 1930), German classical contralto singer in opera and concert
  • Hildegard Schaeder (1902–1984), German theologian and church historian
  • Hilde Schrader (1910–1966), German swimmer and Olympian
  • Hildegarde Sell (1906–2005), American cabaret singer known as Hildegarde
  • Hildegard Sellhuber (born 1950), retired German speed skater and Olympian
  • Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling (1908–1981), German-Danish tennis player
  • Hildegard Stücklen (1891–1963), German-American physicist who dealt with spectroscopy
  • Hildegard Temporini-Gräfin Vitzthum (1939–2004), German classical historian and writer
  • Hildegard Thorell (1850–1930), Swedish painter
  • Hildegard Trabant (1927–1964), 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) Vīka (1897–1963), Latvian artist and writer
  • Hildegard Werner (1834–1911), 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 (1898–1977), 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 Ryūhei 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

pl:Hildegarda