Lilee
Feminine · “lily”
The lily is one of the oldest borrowed words in Europe. Latin lilium and Greek leirion are not related to each other by any Indo-European rule, which means both languages took the word from something older still, probably a Mediterranean tongue nobody now speaks.
How old is the name Lilee?
Lilee first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Lilee alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,000 people named Lilee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lilee most popular?
Lilee peaked in 2013, reaching #2484 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 4,062 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From leirion to Lilee
The story of Lilee
Lily was used in English as a flower name and as a short form of Elizabeth from the nineteenth century, and it became one of the most-given girls' names in the English-speaking world in the 2000s. The word itself is far older: it was borrowed into Latin before Latin was written, carried into English with Christianity, and attached to the Virgin Mary in art for a thousand years as an emblem of purity. Once a name becomes as common as Lily did, respellings arrive, and the -ee ending is the plainest of them, marking the final vowel without adding a letter of decoration. Lilee's best year in United States records is 2013.
Meaning
lily, the flower
From Latin lilium, the flower, which came into Old English early and stayed. The Greek leirion means the same flower and cannot be derived from the Latin or the reverse, so both are generally taken as borrowings from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean source. The flower's meaning as a name is not in doubt; only its ultimate origin is.
How the name formed
- leirion
- lilium
- lily
- Lilee
Related forms: Lys · Giglio · Lily · Lilie
Pronouncing Lilee
LIL-ee
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Identical to Lily; the -ee ending changes nothing except how the final vowel is written.
Nicknames for Lilee
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
- 1997
- Most girls named
- 201372 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2484reached in 2013
- Change vs 2024
- −5.6%17 in 2025, from 18
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.
Lilee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lys in French — related form
- Giglio in Italian — related form
- Lily in English — spelling variant
- Lilie in German — related form
Lilees among us
people named Lilee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Lilee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lilee
- #6546
- Lilee on the 2025 chart
- #912
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lilee went to 17 girls in 2025, but Lillee, Lile and Lyle and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 48, which makes it the 912th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,634 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 33,485 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 94,545 for Lilee 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 Shyra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lilee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shyra climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shyra's path sketches the road Lilee is walking now.
Lilee 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
Lilee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lilee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that is a single flower everyone can picture.
- One of the oldest borrowed words in the European languages.
- Lil and Lee are two short forms in different registers.
- Lily is the standard spelling by a very wide margin.
- Lilly, Lillie and Lilee all circulate and split the records.
- It will be corrected to Lily on most forms.
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What they receive
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Lilee
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lilees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Lilee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lilee?
- Lilee is the most-used spelling in US records — 17 of the 48 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Lillee, Lile, Lyle and Lylee.
- How popular is the name Lilee in 2025?
- Lilee ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lilee?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Lilee — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lilee with classmates?
- Lilee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lilee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lilee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lilee and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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