High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Hilton Head Island or Hilton Head is a resort town (located on an island of the same name) in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is 20 miles (32 km) north of Savannah, Georgia, and 95 miles (153 km) south of Charleston. The island gets its name from Captain William Hilton. In 1663, Captain Hilton identified a headland near the entrance to Port Royal Sound, which he named "Hilton`s Head" after himself. The island features 12 miles (19 km) of beachfront on the Atlantic Ocean and is a popular vacation destination. In 2004, an estimated 2.25 million visitors pumped more than $1.5 billion into the local economy. The year-round population was 37,099 at the 2010 census, although during the peak of summer vacation season the population can swell to 275,000. Over the past decade, the island`s population growth rate was 32%.