Head to head · Girls' names
Azalea vs Lilith
#278 vs #277 in 2025
Lilith is a whisker ahead (#277 vs #278 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lilith is holding its place on the charts, Azalea is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Azalea has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Lilith leads 4 measures of 6; Azalea leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1900s: Azalea #1584, Lilith — — Azalea higher
- 1910s: Azalea #2168, Lilith #3826 — Azalea higher
- 1920s: Azalea #2836, Lilith #3817 — Azalea higher
- 1930s: Azalea #3602, Lilith #3055 — Lilith higher
- 1940s: Azalea #4255, Lilith #4622 — Azalea higher
- 1950s: Azalea #4131, Lilith — — Azalea higher
- 1960s: Azalea #4901, Lilith #5745 — Azalea higher
- 1970s: Azalea #4702, Lilith #7201 — Azalea higher
- 1980s: Azalea #4870, Lilith #10668 — Azalea higher
- 1990s: Azalea #3281, Lilith #6329 — Azalea higher
- 2000s: Azalea #1839, Lilith #1588 — Lilith higher
- 2010s: Azalea #741, Lilith #672 — Lilith higher
- 2020s: Azalea #384, Lilith #270 — Lilith higher
Azalea stood higher in 9 of 13 decades; Lilith has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Azalea | Lilith |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | #1584 | — |
| 1910s | #2168 | #3826 |
| 1920s | #2836 | #3817 |
| 1930s | #3602 | #3055 |
| 1940s | #4255 | #4622 |
| 1950s | #4131 | — |
| 1960s | #4901 | #5745 |
| 1970s | #4702 | #7201 |
| 1980s | #4870 | #10668 |
| 1990s | #3281 | #6329 |
| 2000s | #1839 | #1588 |
| 2010s | #741 | #672 |
| 2020s | #384 | #270 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Azalea
the azalea flower; from Greek azaleos, "dry"
Linnaeus named the genus Azalea in his Species Plantarum of 1753, taking the Greek word for "dry" — a nod to the dry ground the shrub tolerates. As a given name it is simply the flower; the Greek root sits underneath, and almost nobody uses it as the working meaning.
azaleos (Greek, "dry") → Azalea (botanical Latin, Linnaeus) → Azalea (English given name)
How it traveled
" Botanists later folded the group into Rhododendron, but the older name stuck fast in gardens and everyday speech. When English-speaking parents took up flower names in the nineteenth century — Rose, Violet, Daisy, Iris — Azalea came along as one of the less-used members of that set, and it turns up in American records from the early twentieth century onward.
Lilith
linked to "night" or to "wind, air spirit"
The traditional reading ties Lilith to Hebrew *layil*, "night" — the reading behind translations like "night creature" in Isaiah 34:14. Semitic scholars more often trace it to Akkadian *lilītu*, a class of spirit, and beyond that to a Sumerian word for wind or air. Both readings are seriously held; the "night" connection may well be an ancient folk etymology that stuck.
lilītu (Akkadian) → Lilit (Hebrew) → Lilith (Greek and Latin biblical texts) → Lilith (English)
How it traveled
The oldest layer is Mesopotamian: *lilītu* and related figures appear in Akkadian and Sumerian incantations as spirits of the air, invoked to be warded off. The Hebrew *lilit* surfaces once in the Book of Isaiah, in a list of creatures inhabiting a ruined place, and again in the Babylonian Talmud.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Azalea
uh-ZAYL-yuh
Also said uh-ZAY-lee-uh, with four syllables. Both are standard for the flower and both are used for the name; you will hear each one back from strangers.
- Zaley — Informal, clipped from the last two syllables; the most common everyday short form.
- Azzy — Informal and family-side; shares its sound with short forms of Azariah and Aziza.
- Lia — Informal, taken from the tail of the name; also stands on its own as a given name.
- Aza — Informal, from the front of the name; occasionally used on its own.
- Also Zali.
Lilith
LIL-ith
Stress on the first syllable, which rhymes with "fill." The final -th is soft, as in "with." Armenian and Hebrew speakers say Lilit, with the stress on the second syllable and no -th sound.
- Lily — The most common everyday short form; also stands alone as a given name in its own right, and much more widely used that way.
- Lil — Informal, family-and-friends level; not usually written down.
- Lili — Informal; also a standalone given name in French, German and Hungarian.
- Lilu — Affectionate, invented-at-home variety rather than an established form.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Azalea if you want…
- a name on the way upup 205 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAzalea runs 3 syllables, Lilith 2
Choose Lilith if you want…
- a name holding steadyLilith is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesLilith is 2 syllables to Azalea's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Azalea
Strengths
- A common English word, so most people can spell it after hearing it once and picture it immediately.
- Sits inside a long, unbroken tradition of flower names — Rose, Lily, Violet, Iris — that has never fully gone out of use.
- Holds its shape across Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Polish, changing at most a letter or an accent.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate — three syllables or four — and you will end up choosing one and repeating it. Neither is wrong, which is precisely why the correction never quite ends.
- Azalia is a genuine separate spelling, so expect the occasional misfiled form even though the flower spelling is the familiar one.
- An Australian rapper performs under Azalea as a stage surname, which is the first association for some listeners and no association at all for others.
Lilith
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and short enough that most people get it right on the first hearing.
- One of the longest documented records of any name on this page — Mesopotamian incantations, the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, medieval texts, nineteenth-century painting and poetry.
- Lily and Lil are ready-made short forms already in wide use, so the everyday version needs no explaining.
To consider
- The strongest association is with a demon and with Adam's rebellious first wife. Many people find that history the best part of the name; some religious relatives will find it the reason to object. Worth knowing which conversation you are walking into.
- Lily is so much more common that a Lilith who goes by Lily will often be assumed to be a Lily, and will spend some time correcting the record on paper.
- The bearers alive today are overwhelmingly young children, so for now the name reads as new to most adults even though the record behind it is ancient.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Azalea
56%chance Azalea feels dated by 2040
Azalea is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Lilith
40%chance Lilith feels dated by 2040
Lilith sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Azalea and Lilith in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Azalea and Lilith?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names with a Z in them
- Flower names in full bloom
- Names ending in -ea
- Gothic names with candlelit edges
- all guides
Where Azalea and Lilith each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Azalea or Lilith — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Azalea or Lilith?
- Lilith, in 2025: Lilith ranked #277 with 1,111 babies; Azalea ranked #278 with 1,109 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Azalea or Lilith?
- Azalea. Over the last five years Azalea moved up 205 places; Lilith moved up 39 places.
- Which is the older name, Azalea or Lilith?
- Azalea entered the US charts in 1902; Lilith entered the US charts in 1913. On the American record, Azalea is the older name.
- How many people are named Azalea and Lilith?
- About 11,500 people named Azalea are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,500 people named Lilith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Azaleas or Liliths in the classroom?
- Azalea will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lilith will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Azalea, Lilith and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap