Hildegard

The female name Hildegard derived from the Old High German words hild (=war or battle) and gard (=protection) and means "protecting battle-maid". Variant spellings include Hildegarde. The Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish version is Hildegarda; the Italian version is Ildegarda. Hildegárd is a Hungarian version. An ancient German version of the name was Hildegardis.

Notable persons

• Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), a Christian saint
• Hildegard, wife of Charlemagne, the second wife of Charlemagne
• Hildegard, daughter of Louis or Matilda, the daughter of Emperor Louis the Pious and Ermengarde of Hesbaye
• Hildegard Behrens (1937–2009), a German opera singer
• Hildegard Falck (born 1949), a German middle distance runner and Olympic medalist
• Hildegarde Howard (1901–1998), an American paleornithologist
• Hildegard Knef (1925–2002), a German actress, singer and writer
• Hildegard Körner (born 1959), an East German middle distance runner and Olympic competitor
• Hildegarde (1906–2005), an American cabaret singer
• Hildegarde Flanner (1899–1987), an American poet and activist
• Hildegarde Dolson Lockridge (1908–1981), a poet, playwright and novelist
• Hildegarde Naughton, an Irish politician and mayor of Galway
• Hildegart Rodríguez Carballeira, a girl raised to be the perfect woman
• Hildegard Werner, a Swedish musician

Notable fictional characters

• Hildegarde (Marvel Comics), a Valkyrie
• Hildegarde Withers, in novels and films
• Hildegard von Krone, from the Soul series of fighting games
• Hildegarde T., from the anime and manga series Beelzebub (manga) by Ryūhei Tamura
• Hildegarde, in the Johann Strauss operetta Simplicius
• Hildegard 'Hildy' Johnson, from 1940 American comedy film His Girl Friday