Amarilis
Feminine · “Greek amarysso”
Usually a flower names a girl. Here it went the other way: Amaryllis was a shepherdess in Greek and Latin pastoral poetry for eighteen centuries before Linnaeus gave her name to a plant.
How old is the name Amarilis?
Amarilis first appears in US birth records in 1961 — 64 years ago. The typical Amarilis alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 700 people named Amarilis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Amarilis most popular?
Amarilis peaked in 1985, reaching #3517 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 7,400 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Where it comes from
From Amaryllis to Amarilis
The story of Amarilis
The pastoral tradition ran from Theocritus in the third century BC through Virgil's Eclogues and into Renaissance and English poetry, carrying a small cast of standard names with it: Corydon, Thyrsis, Daphnis, Phyllis and Amaryllis. Milton's line about sporting with Amaryllis in the shade assumes the reader knows exactly what kind of poem is being invoked. When Linnaeus set about naming plants he took a great deal from that literature, and the amaryllis, a South African bulb with no connection to Mediterranean shepherds, got the name in 1753. The genus was later split and much of what florists sell as amaryllis is properly Hippeastrum, which is a separate and long-running argument among botanists.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek amarysso, to sparkle
Amaryllis appears as a shepherdess in Theocritus and Virgil, and the name is generally connected to a Greek verb meaning to sparkle or shine. Linnaeus named the plant genus after her in 1753. Amarilis is the Spanish spelling; the American peak is 1985.
How the name formed
- Amaryllis
- Amarilis
Related forms: Amarilis · Amaryllis
Pronouncing Amarilis
ah-mah-REE-lees
Four syllables, stress on the third, in Spanish. English speakers say am-uh-RIL-is with a shorter third vowel.
Nicknames for Amarilis
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1961
- Most girls named
- 199027 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3517reached in 1985
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%8 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Amarilis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Amarilis in Spanish — same name
- Amaryllis in English — spelling variant
Amariliss among us
people named Amarilis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Amarilis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Amarilis
- #10917
- Amarilis on the 2025 chart
- #879
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Amarilis went to 8 girls in 2025, but Amaryllis is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 81, which makes it the 879th most-given girls’ name of the year — 10,038 places above the chart.
- Amaryllis73
- Amarilis8
About 1 girl in 19,843 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 200,908 for Amarilis itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Pascale test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Amarilis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pascale climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pascale's path sketches the road Amarilis is walking now.
Amarilis 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Amarilis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Amarilis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The literary history behind it is long and documented.
- Ama and Mari are two short forms.
- It is a traditional name in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
- Four syllables is long before a surname.
- English and Spanish pronounce it differently.
- The 1985 peak dates its American use.
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What they receive
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Amarilis
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Amariliss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Amarilis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Amarilis?
- Amarilis is one of 2 recorded spellings. Amaryllis is the more common one — 73 births in 2025 against 8 for Amarilis.
- How popular is the name Amarilis in 2025?
- Amarilis ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Amarilis?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Amarilis — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Amarilis with classmates?
- Amarilis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Amarilis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Amarilis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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