Millie
Feminine
Millie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 45,926 girls against 212 boys since 1880.
Millie began as a household shortening — the name the family used for a Mildred, a Millicent, an Amelia or an Emilia — and somewhere along the way it stopped needing the longer name behind it. Two syllables, both light, ending on that soft -ee that English has always liked in affectionate names. It has been in unbroken use in the United States for generations, and it currently sits comfortably in the charts of Scotland, England and Wales, and Canada as well.
How old is the name Millie?
Millie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Millie alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 29,000 people named Millie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Millie most popular?
Millie peaked in 2025, reaching #73 nationally. Today it ranks #73, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mildþryð to Millie
The story of Millie
The name is English in its current shape, but the material behind it is older and came from more than one direction. Mildred is native Old English, borne by an Anglo-Saxon abbess and revived by Victorian parents with a taste for early English names. Millicent arrived with the Normans, an Old French reworking of a Germanic name; Amelia and Emilia came through Latin and the continental courts. All of them were shortened at home to Millie, and by the nineteenth century that short form was being written on records in its own right — a path it has never left in Britain or America.
Meaningscholars disagree
Depends on the longer name behind it: 'gentle strength', 'work' or 'strong worker' are the usual readings
Millie is a short form of several unrelated names, so its meaning shifts with its parent. Through Mildred it goes back to Old English mild ('gentle') and þryð ('strength, power'). Through Millicent it traces to a Germanic name built on amal ('work, labor') and swinth ('strong'). Through Amelia and Emilia the roots are amal again, and the Roman family name Aemilius. Used on its own, as it very often is now, Millie carries no single settled meaning.
Cultural footprint
Millie Bobby Brown (b. 2004) — Stranger Things' Eleven
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Mildþryð
- Mildred
- Millie
Related forms: Milly · Milla · Mille · Millicent · Emilia
Pronouncing Millie
MIL-ee
Stress on the first syllable, and no regional disagreement about it in English. The Millie/Milly spelling choice is the only thing that trips people up, not the sound.
Nicknames for Millie
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
- 20253,353 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #73reached in 2025
- Change vs 2022
- +52.6%3,353 in 2025, from 2,197
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.
Millie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Milly in English — spelling variant
- Milla in Finnish and Swedish — related form
- Mille in Danish — related form
- Millicent in English — related form
- Emilia in Spanish and Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio. International figures from National Records of Scotland, Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada. Sources
Millies among us
people named Millie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 479 born in 2025 was named Millie
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Erika test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Millie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Erika climbed just as high around 1989, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Erika's path sketches the road Millie is walking now.
Millie is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Millie is headed
Millie looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 39% 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.
Millie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Millie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, phonetic and immediately readable — most people will say it correctly on first sight.
- Works either as a full legal name or as the everyday form of Amelia, Emilia, Millicent, Camilla or Mildred, which leaves the decision flexible.
- Currently charting in Scotland, England and Wales, and Canada as well as the United States, so it travels across English-speaking countries without explanation.
- A long unbroken record in American use, familiar to every generation now living rather than tied to one decade.
- Millie and Milly are both established, so expect a lifetime of spelling it out. Neither version is wrong, which is exactly what keeps the confusion going.
- It is climbing quickly. A name that is uncommon in classrooms now may be considerably more familiar by the time she starts school.
- As a diminutive by origin, it has no more formal register of its own. Some parents solve this by choosing a longer legal name and using Millie every day; others simply don't mind.
- Several well-known British bearers mean the name reads as slightly British to some American ears — a flavor rather than an obstacle.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Millie 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 Millie? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Millie
Feminine · #73 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Millies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 29,000 people named Millie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Millie in 2025?
- Millie ranks #73 among US girl names in 2025, with 3,353 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Millie?
- About 1 in every 479 US girls born in 2025 was named Millie — 3,353 in all.
- Will my child share the name Millie with classmates?
- Millie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Millie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emery#74 · Daisy#75 · Vivian#70 · Madelyn#70 · Maeve#76 · Eden#70 · Ayla#77 · Zoey#69
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Millie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Millie 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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle