NamesGirlL › Lily
Girl name · English origin

Lily

/ˈlɪli/ · English origin · 100% girls · #18 in the US for girls, 2025

Latin lilium, the lily, a symbol of purity — lily flower. A Victorian flower name and a medieval nickname for Elizabeth.

MeaningLily flower
OriginEnglish
Syllables2
Pronunciation/ˈlɪli/
NicknamesLil
Living in the US≈ 177,968
Median age today15 years

Popularity, 1880–2025

Babies named Lily per year · SSA, ONS, NRS, CSO, INSEE and SSB
18802025
United StatesEngland & WalesScotlandIrelandFranceNorwayeach scaled to its own peak
  • Peak year2011 · 8,199
  • Born in 20256,673
  • All time189,789
  • England & Wales, 2025#2 · 2,249

How popular is Lily?

Lily ranks 18th among American girls in 2025, with 6,673 born that year. Its best year was 2011, when 8,199 babies were given the name, ranking 15th. The typical living American called Lily is about 15 years old today. It is relatively most common in District of Columbia, where it accounts for 0.55% of births.

Names that sound like Lily

Phonetic similarity, 0–1
  1. Lilly0.96
  2. Libby0.72
  3. Emily0.62
  4. Lila0.64
  5. Lindy0.64
  6. Litzy0.64
  7. Keily0.62
  8. Lilia0.61

Middle names for Lily

Ranked by flow score
  1. Lily Anne0.81
  2. Lily Eve0.80
  3. Lily Elizabeth0.78
  4. Lily Catherine0.78
  5. Lily Josephine0.78
  6. Lily Rose0.77

Sibling names for Lily

Same era, comparable use, no clash
  1. Sofiasister · 0.98
  2. Zoesister · 0.98
  3. Wyattbrother · 0.98
  4. Parkereither · 0.98
  5. Owenbrother · 0.98
  6. Carterbrother · 0.98

Where Lily is strongest

Share of 2025 births by state
  1. District of Columbia0.55%
  2. Hawaii0.53%
  3. Vermont0.50%
  4. Wyoming0.47%
  5. Alaska0.46%

With a common surname

Flow score against the most-used American surnames · try your own
  1. Lily Anderson0.77
  2. Lily Reyes0.72
  3. Lily Nguyen0.72
  4. Lily Moore0.72
  5. Lily Hall0.72
  6. Lily Green0.72

How to read these numbers

Every score on this page is explained
  1. Phonetic similarity0–1
  2. Middle-name flow0–1
  3. Sibling fit0–1
  4. Living population estimatemethod
  5. PronunciationCMU dictionary

Sources for Lily

Every figure on this page is public record
  1. United States1880–2025
  2. England & Wales1996–2025
  3. Scotland1974–2020
  4. Ireland1998–2019
  5. France1900–2025
  6. Norway1945–2025
  7. PronunciationCMU dictionary

Lily across America

Share of 2025 births in each state. Darker means more common.
ME
WA
VT
NH
MT
ND
MN
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
ID
SD
IA
IL
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
NV
WY
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
CA
UT
CO
KS
AR
TN
NC
DC
AZ
NM
OK
LA
MS
AL
SC
AK
TX
GA
FL
HI
raremost common

Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.