Head to head · Girls' names
Liliana vs Melody
#78 vs #79 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Liliana is a whisker ahead (#78 vs #79 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; Melody 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
- 1910s: Liliana —, Melody #2876 — Melody higher
- 1920s: Liliana —, Melody #4100 — Melody higher
- 1930s: Liliana —, Melody #2046 — Melody higher
- 1940s: Liliana —, Melody #568 — Melody higher
- 1950s: Liliana #4544, Melody #209 — Melody higher
- 1960s: Liliana #2188, Melody #195 — Melody higher
- 1970s: Liliana #863, Melody #218 — Melody higher
- 1980s: Liliana #523, Melody #249 — Melody higher
- 1990s: Liliana #339, Melody #362 — Liliana higher
- 2000s: Liliana #207, Melody #301 — Liliana higher
- 2010s: Liliana #118, Melody #159 — Liliana higher
- 2020s: Liliana #93, Melody #100 — Liliana higher
Melody stood higher in 8 of 12 decades; Liliana has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Liliana | Melody |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #2876 |
| 1920s | — | #4100 |
| 1930s | — | #2046 |
| 1940s | — | #568 |
| 1950s | #4544 | #209 |
| 1960s | #2188 | #195 |
| 1970s | #863 | #218 |
| 1980s | #523 | #249 |
| 1990s | #339 | #362 |
| 2000s | #207 | #301 |
| 2010s | #118 | #159 |
| 2020s | #93 | #100 |
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
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.
Melody
Song, tune — literally 'singing of a poem'
The Greek melōidia joins melos, 'song' or 'tune', with aoidē, 'singing' — the same root behind the word ode.
melōidia (Greek) → melodia (Late Latin) → melodie (Old French) → Melody
How it traveled
The word begins in Greek as melōidia, passes into Late Latin as melodia, and reaches English through Old French melodie in the medieval period, when it named a sung line of poetry. For centuries it stayed a common noun in English, a musical term rather than anything a person was called.
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.
Melody
MEL-uh-dee
Stress on the first syllable, and the middle vowel is a light schwa. The French Mélodie shifts the stress toward the end, may-lo-DEE.
- Mel — The standard short form; also serves Melanie, Melissa and, for men, Melvin, so it rarely points to one name alone.
- Mellie — Informal and affectionate, mostly used within families rather than at school or work.
- Melly — An informal spelling of the same short form; interchangeable with Mellie in practice.
- Lodi — Occasional and family-made, drawn from the middle of the name rather than the front.
Who has carried each name
Liliana
Liliana Segre (b. 1930) — Holocaust survivor made an Italian senator for life
Melody
Melody Gardot (b. 1985) — Jazz singer who taught herself music while recovering from a near-fatal accident
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, Melody 3
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Lily, Lili and Lia
Choose Melody if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesMelody is 3 syllables to Liliana's 4
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.
Melody
Strengths
- An ordinary English word, so the spelling is guessed correctly on the first try by almost anyone who hears it.
- Long-established short forms in Mel and Mellie, with a full-length name to fall back on.
- A documented line from Greek through Latin and French into English, unbroken as a word for many centuries.
To consider
- It is climbing rather than settling, so a Melody born now may meet more namesakes in her own year group than older bearers of the name ever did.
- Mel is shared with Melanie, Melissa and Melvin — useful, but it does not identify her the way the full name does.
- As a word-name, it invites the obvious music remarks: song puns, lyrics quoted at her. Most word-names carry a version of this, and most wearers outgrow the joke.
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 Melody 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 Melody?
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 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 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 Melody — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Liliana or Melody — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Liliana or Melody?
- Liliana, in 2025: Liliana ranked #78 with 3,118 babies; Melody ranked #79 with 3,095 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Liliana or Melody?
- Liliana. Over the last five years Liliana moved up 32 places; Melody moved up 27 places.
- Which is the older name, Liliana or Melody?
- Liliana entered the US charts in 1950; Melody entered the US charts in 1914. On the American record, Melody is the older name.
- How many people are named Liliana and Melody?
- About 74,000 people named Liliana are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 108,000 people named Melody are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lilianas or Melodys in the classroom?
- Liliana will almost certainly be the only one in school. Melody 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 Liliana, Melody and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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