Lilith
Feminine · “linked to "night" or to "wind”
Few names in use today have a paper trail this long: the Hebrew word *lilit* appears in the Book of Isaiah, and clay incantation bowls from Mesopotamia carried related night-spirit names centuries before that. In English the sound is plain and even — two short syllables, all soft consonants, nothing to trip over. It reached modern American nurseries only recently, but it arrived with several thousand years of reading behind it.
How old is the name Lilith?
Lilith first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Lilith is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 13,500 people named Lilith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lilith most popular?
Lilith peaked in 2023, reaching #232 nationally. Today it ranks #277, 45 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lilith appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From lilītu (Akkadian) to Lilith
The story of Lilith
The oldest layer is Mesopotamian: *lilītu* and related figures appear in Akkadian and Sumerian incantations as spirits of the air, invoked to be warded off. The Hebrew *lilit* surfaces once in the Book of Isaiah, in a list of creatures inhabiting a ruined place, and again in the Babylonian Talmud. The story most people know — Lilith as Adam's first wife, who left the garden rather than submit — comes from the Alphabet of Ben Sira, a medieval Jewish text, and from there into European art and literature: Goethe's Faust, Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting Lady Lilith, George MacDonald's novel Lilith. Twentieth-century feminist writing took up that same figure and read her as a woman who refused, which is largely why the name is on birth certificates now at all.
Meaningscholars disagree
linked to "night" or to "wind, air spirit"
The traditional reading ties Lilith to Hebrew *layil*, "night" — the reading behind translations like "night creature" in Isaiah 34:14. Semitic scholars more often trace it to Akkadian *lilītu*, a class of spirit, and beyond that to a Sumerian word for wind or air. Both readings are seriously held; the "night" connection may well be an ancient folk etymology that stuck.
How the name formed
- lilītuAkkadian
- LilitHebrew
- LilithGreek and Latin biblical texts
- LilithEnglish
Related forms: Lilit · Lilit · Лилит (Lilit) · Lilith · Lilith · Lilit
Pronouncing Lilith
LIL-ith
Stress on the first syllable, which rhymes with "fill." The final -th is soft, as in "with." Armenian and Hebrew speakers say Lilit, with the stress on the second syllable and no -th sound.
Nicknames for Lilith
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
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 20231,300 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #232reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −11.3%1,111 in 2025, from 1,252
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.
Lilith in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lilit in Hebrew — transliteration
- Lilit in Armenian — same name
- Лилит (Lilit) in Russian — transliteration
- Lilith in German — same name
- Lilith in Italian — same name
- Lilit in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Liliths among us
people named Lilith are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,447 born in 2025 was named Lilith
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lilith
- #277
- Lilith on the 2025 chart
- #259
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lilith went to 1,111 girls in 2025, but Lillith, Lilyth and Lylith and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,252, which makes it the 259th most-given girls’ name of the year — 18 places above the chart.
- Lilith1,111
- Lillith101
- Lilyth18
- Lylith14
- Lillyth8
About 1 girl in 1,284 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,447 for Lilith 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 Leticia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lilith's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leticia climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leticia's path sketches the road Lilith is walking now.
Lilith 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 Lilith is headed
Lilith looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Lilith beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lilith in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and short enough that most people get it right on the first hearing.
- One of the longest documented records of any name on this page — Mesopotamian incantations, the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, medieval texts, nineteenth-century painting and poetry.
- Lily and Lil are ready-made short forms already in wide use, so the everyday version needs no explaining.
- Works in several languages with almost no change: Lilit in Hebrew, Armenian and Russian, Lilith in German and Italian.
- The strongest association is with a demon and with Adam's rebellious first wife. Many people find that history the best part of the name; some religious relatives will find it the reason to object. Worth knowing which conversation you are walking into.
- Lily is so much more common that a Lilith who goes by Lily will often be assumed to be a Lily, and will spend some time correcting the record on paper.
- The bearers alive today are overwhelmingly young children, so for now the name reads as new to most adults even though the record behind it is ancient.
- She is unlikely to meet another one at school — good if you want that, worth a thought if she would rather have a name nobody remarks on.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lilith to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Lilith? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lilith
Feminine · #277 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Liliths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,500 people named Lilith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lilith?
- Lilith is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,111 of the 1,252 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Lillith, Lilyth, Lylith and Lillyth.
- How popular is the name Lilith in 2025?
- Lilith ranks #277 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,111 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lilith?
- About 1 in every 1,447 US girls born in 2025 was named Lilith — 1,111 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lilith with classmates?
- Lilith will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lilith
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Azalea#278 · Harmony#276 · Lena#279 · Lola#275 · Alanna#280 · Juliet#274 · Luciana#273 · Shiloh#281
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lilith? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lilith and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle