Head to head · Girls' names
Liliana vs Lucia
#78 vs #83 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Liliana is a whisker ahead (#78 vs #83 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, Liliana leads 4 measures of 6; Lucia 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
- 1880s: Liliana —, Lucia #427 — Lucia higher
- 1890s: Liliana —, Lucia #483 — Lucia higher
- 1900s: Liliana —, Lucia #508 — Lucia higher
- 1910s: Liliana —, Lucia #515 — Lucia higher
- 1920s: Liliana —, Lucia #534 — Lucia higher
- 1930s: Liliana —, Lucia #512 — Lucia higher
- 1940s: Liliana —, Lucia #561 — Lucia higher
- 1950s: Liliana #4544, Lucia #577 — Lucia higher
- 1960s: Liliana #2188, Lucia #620 — Lucia higher
- 1970s: Liliana #863, Lucia #647 — Lucia higher
- 1980s: Liliana #523, Lucia #578 — Liliana higher
- 1990s: Liliana #339, Lucia #586 — Liliana higher
- 2000s: Liliana #207, Lucia #402 — Liliana higher
- 2010s: Liliana #118, Lucia #219 — Liliana higher
- 2020s: Liliana #93, Lucia #119 — Liliana higher
Lucia stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Liliana has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Liliana | Lucia |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #427 |
| 1890s | — | #483 |
| 1900s | — | #508 |
| 1910s | — | #515 |
| 1920s | — | #534 |
| 1930s | — | #512 |
| 1940s | — | #561 |
| 1950s | #4544 | #577 |
| 1960s | #2188 | #620 |
| 1970s | #863 | #647 |
| 1980s | #523 | #578 |
| 1990s | #339 | #586 |
| 2000s | #207 | #402 |
| 2010s | #118 | #219 |
| 2020s | #93 | #119 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Liliana
Not charting outside the US.
Lucia
- 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
Liliana
Lily, or a lengthened form of Lilian
Two accounts compete, and both are respectable. The straightforward one traces the name to Latin lilium, 'lily' — the flower of medieval Christian art and of countless Annunciation paintings. The other notes that English Lilian began life as a medieval pet form of Elizabeth, only later drawn toward the flower by sound; Liliana, as the Romance elaboration of Lilian, would inherit that history. Most Italian and Spanish usage today reads it simply as the lily.
Lilium → Lilian → Lillian → Liliana
How it traveled
The Latin lilium gave southern Europe its word for the lily, and gave a family of names its first syllables. Lilian appears in medieval and early modern England as a familiar form of Elizabeth, and by the nineteenth century Lillian was well established as a name in its own right, understood by then as a flower name.
Lucia
Light
From Latin lux, lucis, "light", by way of the Roman masculine name Lucius.
Lucius → Lucia → Lucía → Lucy
How it traveled
The name begins in Rome as Lucia, the feminine of Lucius, one of the oldest and most common Roman first names; Roman writers connected Lucius with children born at first light. Christianity carried it far past the empire through Saint Lucy of Syracuse, martyred in the early fourth century, whose feast on the thirteenth of December became a candle festival in Italy and, remarkably, in Sweden and Norway.
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
Liliana
lil-ee-AH-na
In Spanish and Italian the first syllable is closer to 'lee': lee-lee-AH-na. Some English speakers say lil-ee-AN-a, rhyming the third syllable with 'Anne'; both are heard in the US and neither needs correcting.
- Lily — The most common English short form, and a widely used given name on its own, so it may be read as the full name by people who meet her casually.
- Lili — The usual spelling in Italian, Spanish and Hungarian usage; informal, and travels well outside English.
- Lia — Taken from the middle of the name; a standalone given name in Italy and Portugal as well.
- Lilo — Informal, more common in German-speaking and some Latin American families than in English.
- Also Ana, Lil.
Lucia
loo-SEE-ah (or loo-CHEE-ah)
English and Spanish speakers generally say loo-SEE-ah; Italian gives loo-CHEE-ah, and some English speakers say LOO-shah. All three are correct for the name — worth deciding which one is yours, since strangers will guess.
- Lucy — The English cousin of the name, used as a short form and also standing entirely on its own as a given name.
- Lu — Informal and very short; works in English, Spanish and Portuguese households alike.
- Lulu — Playful and informal, common in childhood; also independently a given name in its own right.
- Luci — A written short form used in notes and signatures; sometimes spelled Lucy or Lucie.
- Also Lucita.
Who has carried each name
Liliana
Liliana Segre (b. 1930) — Holocaust survivor made an Italian senator for life
Lucia
Lucia Berlin (b. 1936) — Rediscovered master of the American short story
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 Liliana if you want…
- a name with more sound in itLiliana runs 4 syllables, Lucia 2
- a newer arrivalLiliana entered the US charts in 1950
Choose Lucia if you want…
- a name on the way upup 77 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesLucia is 2 syllables to Liliana's 4
- a name that charts abroad tooLucia is on the national lists of Scotland
- a long American recordLucia was already in use when US records began in 1880
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
Liliana
Strengths
- Works unchanged in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, so it needs no translating in a bilingual family.
- Short forms are already established and varied — Lily, Lili, Lia, Ana — rather than something a family has to invent.
- Close enough to the familiar Lillian that people grasp the spelling quickly once they hear it.
To consider
- The Lil- family is crowded: Lily, Lila, Lilah, Lillian and Lilliana are all in circulation, so she may share her opening sound with other children even while her full name stays uncommon.
- Spelling gets asked about — Liliana, Lilianna, Lilliana and Lillianna all exist. One 'l' in the middle, one 'n', is the standard form here.
- It is on a steady rise rather than settled, so the name is likely to be somewhat more familiar by the time she is grown than it is now.
Lucia
Strengths
- Spelled the same way in Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Swedish, so it travels without translation or correction.
- A continuous record in American statistics from the very start of that record, with no gap and no revival needed.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Lucy, Lu, Lulu — that families have used for generations.
To consider
- The middle syllable is genuinely unsettled in American English: loo-SEE-ah, loo-CHEE-ah and LOO-shah all circulate, so expect to correct people or to let it vary.
- The Spanish form carries an accent, Lucía, and that mark will be dropped by half the forms she fills out and added by the other half.
- It is on the way up rather than down, so it will feel less uncommon over the years than it does at the moment.
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 Liliana and Lucia 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 Liliana and Lucia?
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.
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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
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- all guides
Every list here names both Liliana and Lucia — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Liliana or Lucia — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Liliana or Lucia?
- Liliana, in 2025: Liliana ranked #78 with 3,118 babies; Lucia ranked #83 with 3,012 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Liliana or Lucia?
- Lucia. Over the last five years Liliana moved up 32 places; Lucia moved up 77 places.
- Which is the older name, Liliana or Lucia?
- Liliana entered the US charts in 1950; Lucia was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Lucia is the older name.
- How many people are named Liliana and Lucia?
- About 74,000 people named Liliana are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 52,000 people named Lucia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lilianas or Lucias in the classroom?
- Liliana will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lucia 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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