Lillian

What Lillian 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, “Lillian” (revision 93672150), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Lillian?

US: Falling: down from #26 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #291 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1898, when 3,061 girls got the name (#10 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 405 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,128 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,789 baby girls in Scotland 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 VT (12.32 per 1,000 girls), ME (10.27 per 1,000 girls), ND (7.78 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Lillian is #57 in the US and #361 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 Lillian were girls.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Lilian537 US · 75 E&W
• Lilliann39 US
• Liliane29 US · 6 E&W
• Lillianne33 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

• Lilian

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Lillian

Girls

• Lilly#252Form of Lilian, possibly meaning “lily”^*
• Annabelle#343Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #92 in 2015, #343 in 2025
• Natalia#144“birthday (of the Lord)”^*
• Livia#819Editor’s note Down from #724 in 2015 to #819 in 2025 in the US
• Olivia#1“olive; olive branch”^*
• Juliana#256Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #256 vs #1,892 in 2025

For a brother

• Adrian#74“from the Roman harbor Hadria”^*
• Maximilian#590German, meaning “the greatest”^*
• Julian#25“Roman personal name”^*
• Lukas#288“a man from Lucania”^*
• Dominic#106Editor’s note Down from #68 in 2015 to #106 in 2025 in the US
• Sebastian#16“august, venerable, exalted”^*

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 Lillian’s. Rank is US 2025.