Head to head · Girls' names
Lily vs Lucy
#18 vs #24 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Lily is a whisker ahead (#18 vs #24 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, Lily leads 4 measures of 6; Lucy 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: Lily #236, Lucy #49 — Lucy higher
- 1890s: Lily #280, Lucy #57 — Lucy higher
- 1900s: Lily #326, Lucy #67 — Lucy higher
- 1910s: Lily #325, Lucy #81 — Lucy higher
- 1920s: Lily #345, Lucy #102 — Lucy higher
- 1930s: Lily #444, Lucy #138 — Lucy higher
- 1940s: Lily #632, Lucy #181 — Lucy higher
- 1950s: Lily #797, Lucy #219 — Lucy higher
- 1960s: Lily #989, Lucy #313 — Lucy higher
- 1970s: Lily #1032, Lucy #506 — Lucy higher
- 1980s: Lily #692, Lucy #459 — Lucy higher
- 1990s: Lily #352, Lucy #433 — Lily higher
- 2000s: Lily #57, Lucy #199 — Lily higher
- 2010s: Lily #25, Lucy #60 — Lily higher
- 2020s: Lily #26, Lucy #41 — Lily higher
Lucy stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Lily has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lily | Lucy |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #236 | #49 |
| 1890s | #280 | #57 |
| 1900s | #326 | #67 |
| 1910s | #325 | #81 |
| 1920s | #345 | #102 |
| 1930s | #444 | #138 |
| 1940s | #632 | #181 |
| 1950s | #797 | #219 |
| 1960s | #989 | #313 |
| 1970s | #1032 | #506 |
| 1980s | #692 | #459 |
| 1990s | #352 | #433 |
| 2000s | #57 | #199 |
| 2010s | #25 | #60 |
| 2020s | #26 | #41 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lily
- England & Wales#3
- Scotland#8
- Canada#9
- France#70
Lucy
- Scotland#37
- Canada#52
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lily
The lily flower, from Latin lilium
The Latin lilium reached English as the flower name lily, and the given name comes directly from it. Lily also works as a short form of Lilian, Lillian and Liliana, so some bearers arrive at it from that side rather than from the flower.
Lilium → Lilie → Lilian → Lily
How it traveled
The flower word came into English from Latin lilium, itself connected to Greek leirion, and for centuries it was a plant, not a person. The lily carried heavy symbolic freight in medieval and Renaissance Europe — the white Madonna lily of Christian art, the stylized fleur-de-lis of the French crown — which kept the word in constant view.
Lucy
Light
From Latin lux, lucis, 'light', through the feminine name Lucia. The Roman original was traditionally given to a child born at daybreak.
Lux (Latin, 'light') → Lucius → Lucia → Lucie → Lucy
How it traveled
The root is Latin: lux, light, giving the Roman personal name Lucius and its feminine Lucia. Lucia was carried through Europe by the cult of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, a fourth-century martyr venerated as a patron of the blind, whose December feast is still marked with candles and processions in Italy and Scandinavia.
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
Lily
LIL-ee
Stress on the first syllable. The pronunciation is the same in American and British English, and speakers of most languages manage it without instruction.
- Lil — The long-established informal short form, used within families and among friends.
- Lils — A casual modern shortening, mostly used by peers rather than adults.
- Lily — Stands fully on its own as a given name, and also serves as the standard short form of Lilian, Lillian and Liliana.
Lucy
LOO-see
Said the same way across English-speaking countries. The Italian and Spanish relatives shift the stress and add a syllable: loo-CHEE-ah and loo-SEE-ah.
- Lu — The oldest and plainest short form, used informally within families.
- Lulu — Affectionate and mostly used with children; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Luce — A one-syllable clip used casually among friends; also the surname-like form seen in French and Italian.
- Lucy — Lucy itself serves as the everyday short form for Lucia, Lucille and Lucinda, if you want a longer name on the certificate.
Who has carried each name
Lily
Lily Collins (b. 1989) — Star of Emily in Paris, daughter of Phil Collins
Lily Tomlin (b. 1939) — Comedy trailblazer with Tonys, Emmys, and a Grammy
Lily James (b. 1989) — Played Cinderella in Disney's live-action remake
Lucy
Lucy Liu (b. 1968) — Charlie's Angels and Kill Bill star
Lucy Maud Montgomery (b. 1874) — Created Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Stone (b. 1818) — Suffragist famous for keeping her own name at marriage — in 1855
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 Lily if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooLily is on the national lists of England & Wales, Scotland, Canada and France
- a name that feels very nowLily is climbing the charts fast
Choose Lucy if you want…
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 67% for Lily
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
Lily
Strengths
- Needs no spelling out in the English-speaking world: the flower is the word, so most people write it correctly on the first hearing.
- Recognized across borders — it charts in Britain, Scotland, Canada and France, and has close cousins in Italian, Russian and Scandinavian.
- Two short syllables that a toddler can pronounce, and that survive being shouted across a playground.
To consider
- The spelling competes with Lilly and Lillie, and with Lila, Lilah and Lyla nearby in sound. Expect the occasional correction, and expect similar names in the same room.
- It has been climbing steadily rather than fading, so a Lily is likely to meet other girls with the same name or a near-match at some point.
- The short form Lil is also a familiar prefix in hip-hop stage names, which some children find funny for a while.
Lucy
Strengths
- A spelling almost everyone already knows: rarely does it need repeating or correcting once said aloud.
- Two easy syllables with no cluster of consonants, and no silent letters to explain.
- Sits in an established family — Lucia, Lucille, Lucinda — so a longer formal name is available if you want one, with Lucy as the everyday form.
To consider
- It is climbing steadily, so it is rarer among adults than it will be among today's youngest children. Expect it to feel more familiar over the next decade, not less.
- Lucie, Luci and Lucia are all in circulation, so the spelling may occasionally be assumed rather than asked.
- Two very well-known cultural Lucys — the Peanuts character and the Beatles song — will come up now and then, usually fondly.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Lily
67%chance Lily feels dated by 2040
Lily 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.
Lucy
12%chance Lucy feels dated by 2040
Lucy has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
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 Lily and Lucy 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 Lily and Lucy?
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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
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- America's top 100 names right now
- Gorgeous — and about to be everywhere
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- all guides
Every list here names both Lily and Lucy — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lily or Lucy — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lily or Lucy?
- Lily, in 2025: Lily ranked #18 with 6,673 babies; Lucy ranked #24 with 6,176 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lily or Lucy?
- Lucy. Over the last five years Lily moved up 17 places; Lucy moved up 26 places.
- Which is the older name, Lily or Lucy?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Lily and Lucy?
- About 177,000 people named Lily are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 137,000 people named Lucy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lilys or Lucys in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Lily. Lucy 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
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