Lillian
Masculine · “lily”
Lillian is given to girls far more often — 475,028 girls against 1,429 boys since 1880. See Lillian as a girl name
Lillian belongs to the lily, and the lily of European art is not a European plant. The white flower in every Annunciation painting is the Madonna lily, native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, brought west by cultivation, and it became the standard symbol of purity across a continent where it does not grow wild.
How old is the name Lillian?
Lillian first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Lillian alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 300 people named Lillian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lillian most popular?
Lillian peaked in 1901, reaching #466 nationally. See the whole 1901 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Mediterranean flower carried north by cultivation to Lillian
The story of Lillian
The plant was cultivated in Crete four thousand years ago, appears on Minoan frescoes, was grown by the Romans, and traveled across Europe in monastery gardens because it was needed for religious painting and for medicine. By the medieval period it was the standard attribute of the Virgin and of a long list of saints, and any painter needing to signal purity reached for it. What is easy to miss is how much work that took: the plant is fussy, dislikes being moved, and was not growing in northern European hedgerows waiting to be noticed. It became the symbol of a continent's religious art because gardeners kept it alive there deliberately, for centuries, a long way from anywhere it belonged.
Meaningscholars disagree
lily
The name is generally derived from the flower, though it may equally have begun as a pet form of Elizabeth that was later reinterpreted as a flower name. Both accounts have support. The flower's own name comes into English from Latin and further back from a Mediterranean source, and the reading is straightforward whichever route the personal name took.
How the name formed
- A Mediterranean flower carried north by cultivation
- The standard symbol of purity in European art
- Lily and Lilian as English names
- Lillian, with the consonant doubled, in heavy American use
Related forms: Liliane · Liliana · Liliana
Pronouncing Lillian
LIL-ee-un
Three syllables, stress on the first. The doubled l does the English job of keeping the vowel before it short; with a single l the first syllable would run long and the name would be a different sound.
Nicknames for Lillian
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 192846 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #466reached in 1901
- Change vs 2016
- −50.0%5 in 2020, from 10
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.
Lillian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Liliane in French — related form
- Liliana in Italian — related form
- Liliana in Spanish — related form
Lillians among us
people named Lillian are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Lillian sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is completely familiar, universally spellable and needs no explaining.
- Lily is available inside it and is one of the most fashionable short names anywhere.
- It has been in continuous use for well over a century without ever sounding dated.
- Lilian with one l is the older spelling and both are standard.
- It is currently very popular again, which is a consideration in a classroom.
- The spelling is on the register for boys as well, in very small numbers.
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What they receive
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Lillian
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lillians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Lillian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lillian in 2025?
- Lillian is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Lillian with classmates?
- Lillian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lillian? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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