Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German (Lower Rhine-Westphalia) and French (Alsace) :
  • topographic name for someone who lived near a stand or grove of holly, from a dialect form of hülse ‘holly’ (Ilex aquifolium). Compare Hulst. This is also the name of a range of wooded hills near Hildesheim.
  • from a short form of a Germanic personal name with hild ‘fight’, ‘battle’ as the first element.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe