Hillary Clinton was named after Sir Edmund Hillary
| Hillary Clinton was named after Sir Edmund Hillary | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Hillary Clinton's mother named her after Sir Edmund Hillary, the mountaineer who conquered Mount Everest." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Fabrication |
| Era | Historical |
| First seen | 1995 |
| Origin | Hillary Clinton, speaking during a visit to Nepal in April 1995 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
During a 1995 trip to Nepal, then–First Lady Hillary Clinton said her mother had named her after Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealand mountaineer. Clinton was born in October 1947. Edmund Hillary became famous only in May 1953, when he and Tenzing Norgay made the first confirmed ascent of Mount Everest. In 2006 her spokeswoman described the story as a family tale told to inspire her.
The claim
Clinton told the story to Edmund Hillary himself when they met, and it was repeated in her 2003 memoir and in press coverage.
What the evidence shows
- Dates. Hillary was a little-known beekeeper and climber in 1947 and gained worldwide fame only in 1953, more than five years after Clinton was born.
- Campaign clarification. In October 2006, a spokeswoman said it was a sweet family story her mother had shared to inspire her daughter.
Why it matters
The story is harmless, but it shows how a family anecdote can become a public claim when repeated by a famous person, and how simple date-checking can test it.
See also
Sources
- The New York Times, report on the origin of Clinton's first name, October 2006.
- Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary."