Lillie
Feminine · “The lily”
Lillie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 158,918 girls against 873 boys since 1880. See Lillie as a boy name
Lillie is a flower name with a soft ending, and the flower has spent two thousand years standing for things it may never have been — including in the most famous sentence ever written about it.
How old is the name Lillie?
Lillie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lillie alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 44,000 people named Lillie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lillie most popular?
Lillie peaked in 1881, reaching #33 nationally. Today it ranks #675, 642 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lillie appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Lilium to Lillie
The story of Lillie
Consider the lilies of the field: the line is famous and the flower is doubtful. Botanists who have looked at what actually grows wild in that landscape have proposed anemones, crocuses, poppies, irises and the common field flowers that come up in spring after rain — anything but the white garden lily that European painters put into the pictures. The Greek word behind it was used loosely for showy wildflowers in general. So the most quoted flower in Western literature is a translation choice, and every painting of it is a guess made a thousand miles and fifteen hundred years from the field in question.
Meaning
The lily
The word is the flower's, from Latin, and it reached English very early — lilies were grown in monastery gardens and the word is one of the oldest plant borrowings in the language. Some bearers of this spelling come from Lillian instead, which is a separate name with a separate history.
How the name formed
- Lilium
- Lily
- Lillie
Related forms: Lili · Lilli
Pronouncing Lillie
LIL-ee
Two syllables, stress at the front. The doubled l keeps the vowel before it short, which is the one thing the spelling is doing.
Nicknames for Lillie
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19213,118 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #33reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- +11.4%420 in 2025, from 377
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.
Lillie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lili in French — same name
- Lilli in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Lillies among us
people named Lillie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,827 born in 2025 was named Lillie
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Lillie 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 Lillie is headed
Lillie 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.
Lillie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lillie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The word behind it is concrete, familiar and entirely pleasant.
- It is short and easy for a small child to say about herself.
- It is both a vintage name and a current one, which very few manage.
- Lily and Lilly are both commoner and hers will be written as one of them.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
- The flower is heavily associated with funerals in some countries, which is worth knowing.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lillie 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 Lillie? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lillie
Feminine · #675 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lillies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 44,000 people named Lillie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lillie in 2025?
- Lillie ranks #675 among US girl names in 2025, with 420 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lillie?
- About 1 in every 3,827 US girls born in 2025 was named Lillie — 420 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lillie with classmates?
- Lillie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lillie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aliza#675 · Whitley#675 · Laney#673 · Lakelyn#673 · Amani#678 · Jenna#679 · Rosalina#680 · Birdie#670
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lillie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lillie 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