Tilly
Feminine · “Short form of Matilda”
Tilly has been the everyday form of Matilda for centuries — the name English speakers reached for when Mahthildis, Matilda and Mathilde felt too formal for the kitchen table. It is two beats and a soft landing, the same shape as Milly, Nelly and Sally, and it has spent most of its life as a spoken nickname before arriving on birth certificates in its own right.
How old is the name Tilly?
Tilly first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Tilly is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,600 people named Tilly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tilly most popular?
Tilly peaked in 2025, reaching #884 nationally. Today it ranks #884, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mahthildis to Tilly
The story of Tilly
Matilda arrived in England with the Norman conquest — Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, gave the name its English footing, and her granddaughter Empress Matilda kept it in the record through the twelfth century. Wherever the name settled, speakers clipped it: Tilda in Scandinavia, Tilde in Denmark, Tilly and Tillie in English and German households. In the United States the Tillie spelling was familiar in the era of large German and Central European immigration, when Mathilde and Ottilie crossed the Atlantic and shed their long forms. Tilly, spelled with a y and standing entirely on its own, is the newest chapter of that same long habit.
Meaningscholars disagree
Short form of Matilda, 'mighty in battle'
Two parent names lead here. The main road is Matilda, from Germanic maht 'might, strength' and hild 'battle'. A smaller one runs through Ottilie and Mathilde as used in German-speaking families, where Ottilie traces instead to aud, 'wealth, fortune'. Which one a particular Tilly descends from depends on the family, not the spelling.
How the name formed
- Mahthildis
- Matilda
- Mathilde
- Tillie
- Tilly
Related forms: Tillie · Tilli · Tilda · Tilde · Til · Matilde
Pronouncing Tilly
TIL-ee
Stress on the first syllable. Rhymes with Milly and Lily. No regional variation to speak of in English.
Nicknames for Tilly
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 2025302 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #884reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +10.2%302 in 2025, from 274
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.
Tilly in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tillie in English — spelling variant
- Tilli in German — same name
- Tilda in Swedish — related form
- Tilde in Danish — related form
- Til in Dutch — related form
- Matilde in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, Indiana.
Tillys among us
people named Tilly are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 5,322 born in 2025 was named Tilly
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 Jaslyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tilly's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jaslyn climbed just as high around 2008, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jaslyn's path sketches the road Tilly is walking now.
Tilly 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 Tilly is headed
Tilly looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 23% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Tilly beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tilly in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads correctly on sight for almost any English speaker: two syllables, no silent letters, no guesswork.
- Centuries of use as the spoken short form of Matilda, so it sits inside a documented family of names rather than standing alone.
- Matilda works as a formal long form if you want one on the birth certificate, with Tilly for everyday use.
- Recognized across German, Dutch and Scandinavian naming traditions through Tilli, Til, Tilda and Tilde.
- Tilly and Tillie are both established, so expect to spell it out. Neither is wrong, which is exactly what makes people guess.
- It is a diminutive by origin, and some people hear it that way for life. Registering Matilda gives a longer option; choosing Tilly outright means committing to the short form on résumés and documents.
- The rhymes are obvious — silly, chilly — and children find them quickly. Most such names survive it, but it is worth saying aloud a few times first.
- Nearly every Tilly in the country right now is a small child, so the name currently has few adult examples to point to. That changes on its own as this group grows up.
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What they receive
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Tilly
Feminine · #884 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tillys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Tilly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tilly in 2025?
- Tilly ranks #884 among US girl names in 2025, with 302 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tilly?
- About 1 in every 5,322 US girls born in 2025 was named Tilly — 302 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tilly with classmates?
- Tilly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tilly
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vada#884 · Rebekah#884 · Megan#887 · Colbie#881 · Emi#881 · Aviana#887 · Odette#881 · Berkley#887
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tilly? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tilly and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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