Lilian
Feminine
Lilian has been in English use since Tudor times, first as an affectionate form of Elizabeth, later gathered up by the lily itself. Three easy syllables, all soft consonants, and a ready-made short form waiting inside it. It has never gone away and has never taken over.
How old is the name Lilian?
Lilian was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lilian alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 18,000 people named Lilian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lilian most popular?
Lilian peaked in 1882, reaching #360 nationally. Today it ranks #560, 200 places below that high. See the whole 1882 chart.
Where it comes from
From Elisabeth to Lilian
The story of Lilian
The name grew up in England as a household nickname. Elizabeth was overwhelmingly common there, and it splintered into dozens of pet forms — Lily among them, and from Lily, Lilian. By the nineteenth century the flower reading had taken hold and Lilian was being given as a full name in its own right, in Britain and then across the Atlantic, where it arrived early enough to appear in the first American name records. The doubled spelling Lillian became the American default, while Lilian stayed the more usual form in Britain and traveled onward into Liliana and Liliane elsewhere in Europe.
Meaningscholars disagree
Either "lily" or a pet form of Elizabeth, depending on which line you follow
Two roads meet at this spelling. The older one runs through Elizabeth: English records from the sixteenth century onward use Lilian and Lillian as familiar forms of that name, alongside Lisbet, Libby and Lily. The other runs through the flower — Latin lilium, the lily, long a symbol of purity in Christian art — which is how most parents read the name today. Both are genuine; neither cancels the other.
How the name formed
- Elisabeth
- Elizabeth
- Lily
- Lilian
Related forms: Liliana · Liliane · Lillian · Lílian · Lilianna · Lilijana
Pronouncing Lilian
LIL-ee-un
Stress on the first syllable. Some families say it in two beats, LIL-yun; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
Nicknames for Lilian
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 2007786 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #360reached in 1882
- Change vs 2022
- +3.5%537 in 2025, from 519
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.
Lilian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Liliana in Italian, Spanish — related form
- Liliane in French — related form
- Lillian in English (US) — spelling variant
- Lílian in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Lilianna in Polish — related form
- Lilijana in Slovene, Croatian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Lilians among us
people named Lilian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,993 born in 2025 was named Lilian
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lilian
- #560
- Lilian on the 2025 chart
- #50
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lilian went to 537 girls in 2025, but Lillian, Lilyann and Lillyann and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 10 spellings went to 4,748, which makes it the 50th most-given girls’ name of the year — 510 places above the chart.
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 339 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,993 for Lilian 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
Fashion outlook
Lilian 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
Where Lilian is headed
Lilian should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Lilian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lilian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The short form Lily is already familiar everywhere, so no explaining is needed — it comes with the name rather than having to be invented.
- Documented in English since the sixteenth century and in continuous use since, without a period of disuse to explain away.
- Recognizable across languages through Liliana, Liliane and Lilianna, which helps in bilingual families.
- Spelled and said the way it looks, once the single L is established.
- Lillian, with two Ls, is far more common in the United States. Expect the doubled spelling to be the default guess on forms, emails and class lists, and expect to correct it politely for life.
- Lily is extremely popular as a standalone name, so a Lilian who uses the short form may effectively be one of several Lilys in a room even while remaining the only Lilian.
- In French, Lilian is a masculine given name and Liliane the feminine one — worth knowing if the family has French-speaking connections, though in the US the spelling reads as a girl's name without hesitation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Lilian
Feminine · #560 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lilians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 18,000 people named Lilian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lilian?
- Lilian is one of 6 recorded spellings. Lillian is the more common one — 3,966 births in 2025 against 537 for Lilian.
- How popular is the name Lilian in 2025?
- Lilian ranks #560 among US girl names in 2025, with 537 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lilian?
- About 1 in every 2,993 US girls born in 2025 was named Lilian — 537 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lilian with classmates?
- Lilian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lilian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mavis#560 · Margo#559 · Jacqueline#558 · Armani#562 · Stephanie#557 · Della#563 · Kamryn#556 · Izabella#564
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lilian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lilian and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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