Lilian

What Lilian means

Possibly “lily”

Used since the sixteenth century, possibly originally a pet form of Elizabeth, but generally accepted as a variant of Late Latin lilium (“lily”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Lilian” (revision 94541167), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Lilian?

US: Falling: down from #497 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #577 in 2015, #531 now.

Biggest US share so far: 2007, when 786 girls got the name (#416 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 2,993 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 3,377 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in HI (2.33 per 1,000 girls), NH (1.32 per 1,000 girls), NE (0.85 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Lilian is #560 in the US and #531 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Lilian were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Lillian3,966 US · 119 E&W
• Lilliann39 US
• Liliane29 US · 6 E&W
• Lilianne23 US
• Liliann13 US
• Lilien5 US · 4 E&W
• Lylian6 US
• Lillien6 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Lillian

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Lilian

Girls

• Lilly#252Form of Lilian, possibly meaning “lily”^*
• Natalia#144“birthday (of the Lord)”^*
• Azaria#638Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1988, with 6 babies
• Lilia#859“lily”^*
• Livia#819Editor’s note Down from #724 in 2015 to #819 in 2025 in the US
• Annabelle#343Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #92 in 2015, #343 in 2025

For a brother

• Julian#25“Roman personal name”^*
• Adrian#74“from the Roman harbor Hadria”^*
• Lukas#288“a man from Lucania”^*
• Blaze#781Editor’s note Down from #707 in 2015 to #781 in 2025 in the US
• Sebastian#16“august, venerable, exalted”^*
• Maximilian#590German, meaning “the greatest”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Lilian’s. Rank is US 2025.