Message: "Hilary (as in Clinton)"

[Opinions] Hilary (as in Clinton)

by paul_skinsale

9/13/2015, 7:58 PM

I was interested to find out that Hilary was actually a man's name long before it was a woman's name. From the Greek Hilarion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilarion

#Hilary

Replies

- Andromache (Hannah Ruth) +1

9/14/2015, 4:36 AM

Although there's the feminine form, Hilaria, right? I buy that it was predominantly masculine in the past, but it seems just as valid that Hilary would a form of Hilaria also.

This message was edited 9/14/2015, 4:36 AM

- blaaaarg (blaaarg)

9/14/2015, 7:26 AM

Interesting how anglicization can do that - forming English forms of female names by transforming -ia into -y, when this is also the way anglicizing masculine names works.

- Anneza, nsi (guest)

9/14/2015, 12:49 AM

Still is. The new leader of the Labour Party in the UK has just appointed Mr Hilary Benn to his shadow Cabinet.

Admittedly, the Benns are posh beyond belief, Labour or not.

- glaucous

9/13/2015, 9:31 PM

Yeah, the only Hilary I've met in real life is a guy in his mid-20s. I thought of it as a girl's name before that, but it works for him.

- queenv

9/13/2015, 8:37 PM

Yeah, it was. Strikes me as a plastic snob name because of my stepsister named Hilary.

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