Head to head · Girls' names
Daphne vs Lilah
#178 vs #179 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Daphne is a whisker ahead (#178 vs #179 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Daphne leads 5 measures of 6; Lilah leads 1.
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
- 1880s: Daphne #1052, Lilah #980 — Lilah higher
- 1890s: Daphne #866, Lilah #923 — Daphne higher
- 1900s: Daphne #945, Lilah #1136 — Daphne higher
- 1910s: Daphne #907, Lilah #1296 — Daphne higher
- 1920s: Daphne #705, Lilah #1569 — Daphne higher
- 1930s: Daphne #791, Lilah #2260 — Daphne higher
- 1940s: Daphne #683, Lilah #3211 — Daphne higher
- 1950s: Daphne #543, Lilah #4402 — Daphne higher
- 1960s: Daphne #366, Lilah #5124 — Daphne higher
- 1970s: Daphne #448, Lilah #5280 — Daphne higher
- 1980s: Daphne #678, Lilah #5134 — Daphne higher
- 1990s: Daphne #819, Lilah #4878 — Daphne higher
- 2000s: Daphne #562, Lilah #1085 — Daphne higher
- 2010s: Daphne #410, Lilah #303 — Lilah higher
- 2020s: Daphne #266, Lilah #210 — Lilah higher
Daphne stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Lilah has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Daphne | Lilah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1052 | #980 |
| 1890s | #866 | #923 |
| 1900s | #945 | #1136 |
| 1910s | #907 | #1296 |
| 1920s | #705 | #1569 |
| 1930s | #791 | #2260 |
| 1940s | #683 | #3211 |
| 1950s | #543 | #4402 |
| 1960s | #366 | #5124 |
| 1970s | #448 | #5280 |
| 1980s | #678 | #5134 |
| 1990s | #819 | #4878 |
| 2000s | #562 | #1085 |
| 2010s | #410 | #303 |
| 2020s | #266 | #210 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Daphne
Not charting outside the US.
Lilah
- Scotland#100
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Daphne
Laurel, bay tree
Daphne is simply the Greek noun for the laurel. The laurel wreath was the Greek and Roman crown of victors and poets, which is why the word traveled so widely.
δάφνη (Greek: laurel) → Δάφνη (Daphne) → Daphne (Latin) → Daphne (English)
How it traveled
The name is the Greek word δάφνη, laurel. In Greek myth Daphne was a nymph pursued by Apollo who was turned into a laurel tree to escape him — the version most people know is the one Ovid told in Latin verse around the turn of the first century, and the laurel became Apollo's own tree.
Lilah
'night' through Layla, or 'play' through Sanskrit līlā — depending on which root you follow
Three serious readings meet at this spelling. Followed back to Arabic and Persian Layla, it means 'night'. Followed to Sanskrit līlā, it means 'play' or 'divine play'. Read instead as a clipped Delilah, it inherits that Hebrew name's own unsettled sense, usually given as 'delicate' or 'languishing'. Nothing in the record forces a choice, and most families are comfortable with more than one.
Layla → Leila → Lila → Lilah
How it traveled
Lila arrived in English-speaking use in the nineteenth century from two directions at once: as a home-made short form of Delilah and Lily, and as an Anglicized cousin of Leila, the Arabic and Persian Layla that Byron put into English poetry in 'The Giaour' in the early nineteenth century. Lilah is that name with the older -h ending, the same finish that Hannah, Sarah and Norah wear.
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
Daphne
DAF-nee
Stress on the first syllable; ph is f. The final e is spoken, not silent — people who read it as a silent English -e sometimes try DAFN before hearing it aloud.
- Daph — The standard informal clip within families and among friends; rarely written down.
- Daffy — An affectionate childhood form, used more by relatives than by peers.
- Dee — A generic initial-based short form, easy to reach for in casual speech.
- Dafi — Used in some European settings, closer to the Continental spellings.
Lilah
LY-luh
In the US the first syllable almost always rhymes with 'my'. The related spellings Leila and Layla are more often heard as LAY-luh or LEE-luh, so expect the occasional guess in that direction on a first meeting.
- Lilah — Widely used as the everyday short form of Delilah, and just as often given as the full name on the certificate.
- Lils — Informal, family-and-friends level; common among children and teenagers.
- Lee — Informal clip; also stands alone as a given name for both sexes in English.
- Li — Very informal, mostly spoken rather than written.
Who has carried each name
Daphne
Daphne du Maurier (b. 1907) — Wrote Rebecca and The Birds
Lilah
No documented entry for Lilah yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Daphne if you want…
- a name on the way upup 236 places on the charts in five years
Choose Lilah if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooLilah is on the national lists of Scotland
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
Daphne
Strengths
- One dominant spelling in English, and it is the ancient one — no family debate over how to write it.
- Recognizable across Greek, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch with barely a change of letters.
- A documented history stretching from ancient Greek to today, without a gap in use.
To consider
- The final -e catches English readers who expect it to be silent, so expect a small share of first-attempt DAFNs, usually corrected once.
- Daffy Duck is the obvious playground joke on the diminutive. It has been available for generations and has not sunk the name, but it is there.
- The myth behind the name is a story of pursuit and escape, and not every parent wants that as the footnote. The word itself just means laurel.
Lilah
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and easy for a child to write early — two syllables, no silent letters.
- The -ah ending is already familiar from Hannah, Sarah and Norah, so the shape of the word looks ordinary even when the name is new to someone.
- Recognized across Arabic, Persian and Turkish as Layla or Leyla, and charting in Scotland as well as the US.
To consider
- The spelling family is crowded: Lila, Lyla, Leila, Layla and Laila all sit nearby and all sound similar. Expect to spell it aloud often, and to receive mail addressed to a slightly different version of your daughter.
- The wave is very recent, so for now nearly every Lilah is a child rather than an adult. That reverses on its own as this generation grows up.
- Through Delilah it brushes against the Samson story in the Hebrew Bible, where Delilah is the betrayer. Few people make the connection with the short form, but a few will.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Daphne and Lilah 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 Daphne and Lilah?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Daphne and Lilah — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Daphne or Lilah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Daphne or Lilah?
- Daphne, in 2025: Daphne ranked #178 with 1,740 babies; Lilah ranked #179 with 1,736 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Daphne or Lilah?
- Daphne. Over the last five years Daphne moved up 236 places; Lilah moved up 61 places.
- Which is the older name, Daphne or Lilah?
- Daphne entered the US charts in 1886; Lilah entered the US charts in 1884. On the American record, Lilah is the older name.
- How many people are named Daphne and Lilah?
- About 39,500 people named Daphne are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 23,500 people named Lilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Daphnes or Lilahs in the classroom?
- Daphne will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lilah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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