# A guy named Hillary



## Dom Casmurro

I met a guy named Hillary. He is from Kenya. Is Hillary a common man's name in other parts of the English-speaking world, or is this but a Kenya thing?


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## cuchuflete

He may have been named for Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Mr. Everest with Tenzing Norgay.


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## Dom Casmurro

Thanks. That would make sense if the mount climbed by Hillary were the Kilimanjaro, which is right on the border of Kenya. Too bad the Everest is so far away from the country where "the guy named Hillary" was born. Thanks again. 

Now, back to my question, if I may: is Hillary a common man's name? 

In Portuguese, Hilário is a masculine name - certainly old-fashioned, but not at all uncommon. If I'm not in error, there's not such a thing as 'Hilária', which would be the feminine form of Hilário.

I've always been intrigued about the divergence of genre between Hilário and Hillary. And then, out of Africa, there comes this guy called Hillary...


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## apmoy70

Dom Casmurro said:


> In Portuguese, Hilário is a masculine name - certainly old-fashioned, but not at all uncommon. If I'm not in error, there's not such a thing as 'Hilária', which would be the feminine form of Hilário.


In Greek too, Ιλαρίων (Ilar*i*on) is a masculine name with no feminine equivalent


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## Deidelia.

En México existen *Hilario *(masculine)* e Hilaria* (feminine), aunque en la actualidad ninguno es común.

D


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## Dr. Quizá

Hilary (single "L") has been used as a masculine name at least from Middle Age.


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## ewie

I've only ever _known _*female* Hilarys in the UK, Dom C.  But it certainly _used to be_ a masculine name, and I'm sure there are still a few male Hilarys here.  Ah, here's one I've just remembered.

(Another gender-changing UK christian name which comes to mind is 'Shirley', originally masculine, now 99.99% feminine.)


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## Dr. Quizá

Also meet Hilary Goldstein, from the US, yet since he said:



> "I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me maybe their friend Larry walked by as they were thinking and my dad went "Hi Larry" Hilary!



You can assume he has not the most popular name.


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## Dom Casmurro

ewie said:


> Ah, here's one I've just remembered.


Thanks. And here's another one.


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## Hakro

A couple of details that may be interesting:

The first Finnish Miss Universum (1952), Armi Kuusela, gor married to a Filipino gentleman named Virgilio *Hilario*. Of course this was his family name.

My second cousin (male) whose father was Estonian was called *Hillar*. He lived all his life in London.


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## Stoggler

There's a male minister in the British government called Hilary Benn (he's the current Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).

I don't think it's that common though in the UK - I certainly haven't met or read about many male Hilarys.


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## Darina

In Bulgaria Ilarion (from Greek) is only masculine.
I know an Italian girl called Ilaria.


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## loladamore

There is a well-known contemporary American philosopher called Hilary Putnam and the detective novelist Hillary Waugh. Perhaps not household names, but both are well-known in their fields. Ah! And there're the wonderful(?) TV celebrity doctor Hilary Jones in the UK. I wonder if there are any men under 50 called Hilary?

I don't think it is a common name, Dom Casmurro, but there do seem to be several men alive called Hilary or Hillary.


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## Sepia

In the famous novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" by Ian Fleming, the protagonist James Bond uses the cover name "Hillary" when infiltrating the antagonist's organisation. He is NOT pretending to be a girl ...


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## danielfranco

I think some of these names that sort of wander back and forth from gender to gender, like Alexis, Ashley, Beverly, Carol, Evelyn, Hilary, Jocelyn, Kelly, Meredith, Shirley, Shannon, Sharon, and Vivian—which are all mostly used for girls nowdays—do so because of parental whims. What I mean is that some new parent thinks the name… "Drew," for example, would be cute for a girl even though it might usually be short for "Andrew." Then, other parents hear about the girl with the cute boy name and decide to name their girls likewise. Soon enough there are troops and squadrons of Drews, Chases, Alexis, etc., running around in pink bows and tu-tus (I'm not saying that boys couldn't possibly wear those things if they so wished, but more often than not the girls are dressed like that by parents, is all).

And then, the trend reverses, and we see a rash of boys named Hillary or Hilary.

So, yeah, I think it's all peer pressure and fashion, whenever there's a guy named Hillary.

D


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## Einstein

In Latin languages there is often a masculine and a feminine version of a name, but you can see the difference from the ending (in Italian Francesco/Francesca, for example). However, in Italian Andrea is a boy's name, while in German or English it's a girl's name, but they tell me it's becoming fashionable for girls in Italy too.


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## roxcyn

No, it's not common for a male.  However, anything is possible.  How about the man named Stacy?  Or the woman called Shawn?  It seems crazy to me, but to each his own, right?


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## wildan1

Dom Casmurro said:


> is this but a Kenya thing?


 
_Hillary_ is not more common in Kenya than in any other English-speaking country--rare for a man but not unheard-of.

PS In many sub-Saharan African countries people are given two first names--an indigenous African name and a European first name. This is especially true for African Christians, who need to use a Christian saint's name to baptize their child. Often Africans don't use that name between them, but prefer the indigneous African name. In my experience people tend use the European first name with non-Africans.


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## Rover_KE

For a long time I used to wonder why the composer Camille St Saens was always referred to by his girl's name when he had a perfectly good boy's name (Charles).

A bit of research, however, revealed that in France Camille is a unisex name, so that's all right then.

Rover


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## sleepwalker

I know a guy here in Italy that is named *Hillary* Michele because her mom heard it in a movie and she liked it used as a guy's name.. here in Italy though is really just used as a girl's name, in its variations too (Hilary, Ilary, ... ) the poor guy always has a though time with peers that tease him and also with bureaucracy such as street police and rollcalls in exam sessions.. poor him!


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## merquiades

danielfranco said:


> I think some of these names that sort of wander back and forth from gender to gender, like Alexis, Ashley, Beverly, Carol, Evelyn, Hilary, Jocelyn, Kelly, Meredith, Shirley, Shannon, Sharon, and Vivian—which are all mostly used for girls nowdays—do so because of parental whims. What I mean is that some new parent thinks the name… "Drew," for example, would be cute for a girl even though it might usually be short for "Andrew." Then, other parents hear about the girl with the cute boy name and decide to name their girls likewise. Soon enough there are troops and squadrons of Drews, Chases, Alexis, etc., running around in pink bows and tu-tus (I'm not saying that boys couldn't possibly wear those things if they so wished, but more often than not the girls are dressed like that by parents, is all).
> 
> And then, the trend reverses, and we see a rash of boys named Hillary or Hilary.
> 
> So, yeah, I think it's all peer pressure and fashion, whenever there's a guy named Hillary.
> 
> D



I agree entirely.  So many names are or have become unisex.  I saw an American couple walking around with a little boy named Phyllis, which I thought was exclusively feminine.  It wouldn't surprise me if they had a little girl named Drew too or Franky or Freddy!  In your list above I'd add Valery/Valerie

Back to the Hillary.  It's clearly unisex, though nowadays I'd guess 9 out of 10 times it's feminine.... at least until the pendulum starts swinging back the other way. 

Now, just wondering... is there any difference between Hilary and Hillary?

Funny, I never had made the connection between (H)ilario/a and Hillary.  I could have sworn there wasn't an H too. Or maybe it's the influence of Icario/a, Isidro/a, and all those other old names with I.


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## SaritaSarang

It must be a Kenya thing, because if a guy were named Hillary and lived in the U.S, he would be mercilessly made fun of.


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