Lilly

What Lilly means

Form of Lilian, possibly meaning “lily”

variant of 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, “Lilly” (revision 94541170) and “Lilian” (revision 94541167), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Lilly?

US: Falling: down from #139 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #50 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2011, when 2,873 girls got the name (#103 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,320 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 663 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 358 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 ND (2.96 per 1,000 girls), WV (2.36 per 1,000 girls), MT (2.12 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Lilly is #252 in the US and #129 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 Lilly 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

• Lily6,673 US · 2,249 E&W
• Lilah1,736 US · 464 E&W
• Lila1,670 US · 277 E&W
• Lili61 US · 72 E&W
• Lielle74 US · 8 E&W
• Lilo49 US · 9 E&W
• Lylla48 US · 3 E&W
• Lilli37 US · 6 E&W

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

If you like Lilly

Girls

• Lillian#57possibly “lily”^*
• Sophia#5“wisdom”^*
• Lilian#560possibly “lily”^*
• Annabelle#343Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #92 in 2015, #343 in 2025
• Lilianna#890Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1980, with 6 babies
• Greta#908Editor’s note Down from #575 in 2015 to #908 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Zander#396Diminutive of Alexander, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Xander#259Diminutive of Alexander, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Adrian#74“from the Roman harbor Hadria”^*
• Dominic#106Editor’s note Down from #68 in 2015 to #106 in 2025 in the US
• Maximilian#590German, meaning “the greatest”^*
• Damian#109“to tame”^*

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