Lillis
Feminine
Lillis is a name from the first American records, soft and quick, clearly in the lily family but with a final s that no one has explained. It belongs to a world of Lillies and Lillians, and to a flower that has been misquoted for four centuries.
How old is the name Lillis?
Lillis was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lillis alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. About 100 people named Lillis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lillis most popular?
Lillis peaked in 1880, reaching #738 nationally. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Lillis
Lillis sounds like a lily said quickly, the l's running together like petals. The lily has been in English speech for a thousand years, and it carries a famous misquotation: people say 'to gild the lily', but Shakespeare wrote, in King John, that 'to gild refined gold, to paint the lily' is wasteful and ridiculous excess. Lillis takes the flower's sound and adds a soft s at the end, a small flourish rather than a gilding. It is a name from the last years of the nineteenth century and sounds like it: modest, bright and brief.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Lillis may be Lillian shortened, Lily with a final s, or an Irish surname used as a given name, and nothing records which.
Pronouncing Lillis
LIL-iss
Two syllables, stress on the first.
Nicknames for Lillis
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
- 191925 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #738reached in 1880
- Change vs 1960
- 0.0%5 in 1963, from 5
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.
Lilliss among us
people named Lillis 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
Lillis 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
- Belongs to the familiar lily family of names.
- Short and easy to say.
- Very rare, so a Lillis is unlikely to share her name.
- People will hear Lillian or Lilies and write it that way.
- It has no documented meaning of its own, only the flower it sounds like.
- It reads as a nineteenth-century name, which suits some families.
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Lillis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Lilliss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Lillis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lillis in 2025?
- Lillis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Lillis with classmates?
- Lillis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lillis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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