Lily Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Girl Names Like Lily

Lily Name Origin: English
Pronunciation: lil-ee
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Lily Name Meaning

Lily has been sending parents’ hearts aflutter for generations thanks to her soft sound and sweet imagery. Named after plants with large, starlike flowers, Lily is of English origin. The lily flower represents purity and love, two things any parents would wish for their little one.

Like her floral sisters Violet and Daisy, Lily has worldwide appeal. She’s right at home in the UK and U.S. alike, even wandering into France and Germany without much of a fuss. She also fits in well with the nature baby name trend alongside sisters Willow and Ruby, and brothers Drake and Jasper.

A little Lily brings to mind dainty lace and extravagant dollhouses, all beloved by a spirited girl with endless imagination. Lily grows with her wearer wonderfully, easily blossoming into adulthood and beyond. The name is expressly feminine yet not overly so, allowing your little one to carve her own path in the great big world.

While Lily is the most common spelling of the name, she does have alternative spellings for parents to explore including Lilly and Lillie. Variants of the name are plentiful with Lillian, Liliana, Lillia, and Lilith all leading to the precious nickname of Lily should parents choose.

Lily Name Popularity

How popular is the name Lily? Here’s everything we know.

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	332	94	0.0267%
1911	403	59	0.0158%
1912	304	182	0.0361%
1913	348	155	0.0273%
1914	343	200	0.0287%
1915	320	309	0.034%
1916	314	333	0.0345%
1917	349	275	0.0275%
1918	325	354	0.033%
1919	330	333	0.0318%
1920	330	353	0.0317%
1921	320	379	0.0331%
1922	318	378	0.0339%
1923	321	374	0.0334%
1924	337	361	0.0311%
1925	359	316	0.028%
1926	376	282	0.0256%
1927	356	322	0.0291%
1928	367	304	0.0284%
1929	380	263	0.0254%
1930	383	267	0.0256%
1931	402	210	0.0213%
1932	437	184	0.0186%
1933	429	186	0.02%
1934	451	162	0.0168%
1935	465	140	0.0144%
1936	452	156	0.0162%
1937	490	133	0.0135%
1938	487	144	0.0141%
1939	520	120	0.0118%
1940	545	118	0.0111%
1941	562	111	0.0099%
1942	551	133	0.0105%
1943	626	103	0.0079%
1944	600	104	0.0084%
1945	621	94	0.0077%
1946	825	56	0.0038%
1947	757	85	0.0051%
1948	804	69	0.0043%
1949	801	76	0.0047%
1950	833	69	0.0043%
1951	861	67	0.004%
1952	819	77	0.0044%
1953	962	53	0.003%
1954	847	78	0.0043%
1955	766	106	0.0058%
1956	830	95	0.005%
1957	934	75	0.0039%
1958	864	90	0.0048%
1959	958	74	0.0039%
1960	963	74	0.0039%
1961	942	84	0.0044%
1962	1,024	65	0.0035%
1963	928	78	0.0043%
1964	876	92	0.0052%
1965	1,171	40	0.0024%
1966	915	73	0.0047%
1967	1,021	55	0.0036%
1968	1,008	58	0.0039%
1969	1,027	63	0.0041%
1970	947	85	0.0053%
1971	993	77	0.0051%
1972	895	90	0.0066%
1973	1,111	52	0.004%
1974	1,022	69	0.0053%
1975	997	72	0.0056%
1976	983	77	0.006%
1977	1,173	58	0.0043%
1978	1,198	57	0.0042%
1979	970	96	0.0068%
1980	853	129	0.0088%
1981	782	156	0.0106%
1982	801	148	0.0099%
1983	780	149	0.0101%
1984	763	159	0.0107%
1985	734	182	0.012%
1986	635	243	0.0161%
1987	637	246	0.0161%
1988	546	354	0.0227%
1989	560	357	0.0221%
1990	586	349	0.0211%
1991	497	434	0.0266%
1992	470	482	0.0302%
1993	444	519	0.0333%
1994	391	607	0.0396%
1995	323	808	0.0536%
1996	260	1,062	0.0709%
1997	219	1,337	0.0904%
1998	169	1,746	0.1167%
1999	152	2,112	0.141%
2000	123	2,725	0.1784%
2001	102	3,193	0.2119%
2002	79	3,834	0.2558%
2003	69	4,431	0.2913%
2004	53	5,400	0.3543%
2005	39	6,088	0.3982%
2006	33	6,764	0.432%
2007	27	7,496	0.4751%
2008	24	8,119	0.5253%
2009	18	8,096	0.5417%
2010	17	7,983	0.554%
2011	15	8,177	0.5739%
2012	16	7,955	0.5582%
2013	27	6,987	0.4907%
2014	27	6,768	0.4645%
2015	25	6,658	0.4576%
2016	24	6,585	0.4567%
2017	33	5,816	0.4167%
2018	31	5,706	0.4153%
2019	34	5,419	0.4003%
2020	36	5,083	0.3993%
2021	33	5,156	0.4218%
2022	30	5,966	0.4522%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Lily

If you like Lily, you’ll love these other names like Lily.

What names are diminutives of Lily?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Lily sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Lily, but shorter.

Name	Meaning	Origin	Popularity	Other Gender
Lil	A short form of Lilian.	Latin

What names are variants of Lily?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Lily.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Leelee		Latin
Lila	Night	Arabic
Lilas		Scottish
Lili	Lily	Latin
Lilia	Lily	Latin
Lilian	Lily	Latin
Liliana	Lily flower	English
Liliane	Lily	Latin
Lilias		Scottish
Lilie		Latin
Lilla		Latin
Lilley		Latin
Lilli	Lily	Latin

Lillia	Lily	Latin
Lillian	Lily flower	English
Lillianne	Lily	Latin
Lillie	Lily	Latin
Lillika		Latin
Lillita		Latin
Lilly	Lily flower	English
Lilyan	Lily	Latin
Lilyanne		Latin

What names sound like Lily?

If you like how Lily sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Lily.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Laila	Night	Arabic
Laily	Night beauty	Arabic
Lala	Tulip	Slavic
Lali	Talk; well-spoken	Greek
Lally	Well-spoken; to chatter or babble	Greek
Lalya	Talk; well-spoken	Greek

Leila	Night	Arabic
Lela	Black beauty	African
Lilah	Night	Arabic
Lisl	God's promise; God is my oath	Hebrew
Lola	The sorrows	Spanish
Lolly	The bay, or laurel plant	Latin
Lula	Famous warrior	German
Lulu	Precious; pearl; calm, peaceful, protected	Latin
Lyla	Night	English
Millie	Gentle strength	English
Tilly	Mighty in battle	German

What names are similar to Lily?

Find a name that’s like Lily, but just a little bit different.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Callie	Beautiful one	Greek
Daisy	Daisy flower	English
Hannah	Grace	Hebrew
Holly	The holly tree	English

Lucy	Of the light	English
Mia	Dear	Scandinavian
Molly	Of the sea	English
Rose	Rose flower	English
Violet	Violet flower	English
Willow	Willow tree	English

Lists With Lily

Find inspiration in these baby girl name lists featuring the name Lily.

Siblings of Lily

Mamas with kids named Lily also have kids with these names.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Christopher	Bearing Christ	English
Karis	Grace	Greek
Katherine	Pure	Greek
Linnea	Lime or linden tree	Scandinavian
Bree	Noble	Irish
Kai	Sea	Polynesian
Maryn	From the sea	Latin
Leo	Lion	Latin
Philip	Horse lover	Greek

Ivy	Ivy plant	English
Rowan	Of the rowan tree	Gaelic
Daisy	Daisy flower	English
Arlo	Armed hill	English
Reed	Red	English
Lucy	Of the light	English
James	Supplanter	English
Luke	From Lucania	Greek
Michael	Who is Like God?	Hebrew
Brooke	Small stream	English
Levi	Joined together	Hebrew
River	Flowing body of water	English
Adalee	God is my refuge; noble one	Hebrew

Share Your Thoughts

53 Comments

Judith Nov 15 at 4:18 pm

I named her after my sister. I like that its short and sweet and after a flower too.

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Katie Oct 16 at 8:55 am

We named our daughter Lillian after my great grandmother and will call her Lily. Her full name is Lily Florence. She also has a great grandmother named Florence so we wanted to honor both with her name.

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Jen Aug 12 at 10:52 am

Consider the lilies Bible verse

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Jenny Aug 2 at 12:07 pm

Matthew 6:28-33

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Simple pretty and beautiful

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Hannah Apr 25 at 10:32 am

My husband and I love Harry Potter, Walt Disney, The Office, and Psych. The name Lily appears in/has significance in all of those so we thought it was a perfect fit. And now that she’s here and pretty as a flower it makes even more sense.

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Nancy Apr 14 at 9:45 am

N/a

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Ashley Jan 22 at 11:00 am

My birth month is May, and the flower of the month is Lily of the Valley. Additionally, I gave my husband a list of my favorite names. One night, while rubbing my bump, he just randomly referred to her as ‘Lily’ and the rest was history!

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Laura Apr 24 at 12:47 pm

Gardening was something that my grandmother and I loved to do together and while I wanted my daughters name to have some sort of meaning that related to my grandmother, I also wanted it to be her own. My mothers name starts with an L and so does mine, so it was only fitting to choose a flower that started with the letter L.
The Lily flower signifies purity and love and that is exactly what we got with our little Lily. I filled my garden with every color lily the summer I was pregnant and never looked back, we absolutely love her name and it suits her perfect. I love that it’s simple, easy to say and is not too long.

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- Lily Aug 3 at 9:53 am
  
  That’s a really good reason
  
  Reply
Jami Sep 28 at 5:30 pm

We named our daughter Liliana after her grandmother Lilia! But we call her Lily?

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Samantha Aug 3 at 9:19 am

Kyle liked the name and always wanted to name a girl that. It also goes with my grandma’s name.

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Maia May 25 at 6:59 pm

We chose the name Lily because of the meaning associated with it. Purity and beauty. It also means “God is abundance”. We didn’t know if we were having a girl or boy, but as soon as I saw her face I knew Lily was her name.

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Devin May 20 at 7:09 am

Pretty, classic, and went beautifully with my husbands grandmothers name “Lily Odette“

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Kelley G Mar 1 at 11:28 am

When my best friend and I had our first apartment together, we got a bunny and named her Lily Bunny. Many many years later, my husband and I were pregnant with our daughter and could not agree on ANY names. Suddenly, I just started calling her Lily Bunny. He said he really liked the name Lily and we gave her Danielle as her middle name after my best friends middle name. Our Lily is now 11 and I still love her name. ?

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Lily Jan 3 at 6:39 pm

When I was looking through the chart of “Lily’s siblings” there wasn’t any of my siblings names on their. I have 3 older brothers named Madison, Reece and Daniel.

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Suzanne Oct 29 at 10:18 am

My name means Lily and I’ve always loved that flower 🙂

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Leah Oct 12 at 7:14 am

I lost my 2nd baby through miscarriage and now that I had my rainbow baby, Lily means rebirth and she’s the rebirth of the baby I lost and Lily’s are my favorite flower and I want her to have a name that starts with L because my name is Leah, my first born is Levi and now we have Lily!

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Melody Oct 1 at 7:11 am

It was pretty, two syllables and easy to write. Plus our last name is Flores and it flows with her middle name, Eugenia.

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Safari Sep 4 at 2:17 pm

mom

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- Lily Jan 14 at 11:25 am
  
  She or he might me cute
  
  Reply
richa Sep 4 at 2:15 pm

i love her

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Loretta Aug 3 at 8:36 am

Lily was named after my favorite flower. It was also the first flower her father gave me.

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Karla Jul 12 at 2:10 am

I chose the name Lily when I was just three years old. My late grandfather bought me a beautiful doll, whom I still cherish to this day. I called her Lily. And I said my daughter will be called Lily. It is also my maternal great grandmothers name. It means a lot to me.

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Lily Mar 29 at 8:23 pm

My name is Lily Grace Hilger! I love my name soooo much!

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- Lily Jan 3 at 6:34 pm
  
  Wow! My middle name is the same as yours!
  
  Reply
Lily Y Jan 21 at 11:48 am

Yay! LOL

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Maya Jan 19 at 12:07 pm

my middle name is Lily. Adorable name 🙂

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- Jordan Jan 22 at 6:00 pm
  
  My middle name is Lily too. Twin’s
  
  Reply
- Lily finke my sisters name is M he can do your name Tyson. Hi sit tight your name OK I’ll say.Maya Mar 24 at 3:52 pm
  
  My name is Lily finke
  
  Reply
Amanda Bouharevich Jan 5 at 9:10 am

We love Lily !

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Olivia Sep 14 at 11:31 am

Me and my boyfriend had a hard time agreeing on names and that’s the one he liked! And I fell in love with it. I love that it’s like the flower it makes so much sense with her because she is literally so sweet like a flower ?

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Jhada Sep 13 at 6:00 pm

My 9 year old came to me and told me that she had a dream. I was going to have a baby girl named Lily. A month later I was pregnant and we claimed her a girl and named her Lily. At the ultrasound I told her I knew the baby was a girl and her name will be Lily. So, we have a healthy baby girl. Strong and beautiful like the Lily. A lily raises out of the mucky, muddy water; but raises to the top and shows its beauty. 2020 has been a crazy year; but my Lily made it.

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- Jordan Jan 22 at 6:02 pm
  
  Beautiful story!!
  
  Reply
Sarah Aug 4 at 12:49 pm

Family name

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Heather Jun 25 at 11:13 am

I chose her name always loved it. Lilies are one of my favorite flowers. I think it fits her well!

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Ashley May 31 at 11:38 pm

I choose Lily for my baby girl because Lillian was my dads mom an i really loved an took a deep like into her we spent 90% of our time together .. As a little girl i vowed to name my baby girl lily one day ..

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Erica Apr 12 at 12:18 pm

We chose the name Lily Nova. We wanted an earthy and celestial name. We are all made of stardust after all. At first we couldn’t choose between Lily and Nova but the moment we met her we knew. She was as sweet and as beautiful as a flower. Her gentleness as charming as the stars above.

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Jordan Mar 25 at 1:16 pm

It was my suggestion and my partner’s first choice. Love how it sounds & the reference to something simple and beautiful.

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Amber Feb 2 at 1:37 am

Lily is my oldest and she the most amazing daughter a mom could ever have. She is so smart and amazing beyond words

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April Jan 1 at 6:28 pm

My fiance and I both just loved the name Lily it’s so pretty ,and cute . Lily usaldo a beautiful flower in the spring which when we found out I was pregnant it was in April 20th a day before Easter

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Kristin Dec 28 at 3:37 pm

We named our second baby Lily Katherine as we found it so beautiful!

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Wendy Dec 28 at 12:51 pm

We loved “L” names for girls and how simple and pretty it was.

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Katie Dec 4 at 12:35 pm

Lily wasn’t even a name I was considering, but it seemed so delicate and perfect for the first Maddox girl!

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Kristine Oct 23 at 9:24 am

My fianc? and I both love this name so when we had the baby/baby names talk it was both of our first choices. Too easy… 😉

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Al N Jen Jul 30 at 2:28 pm

To me Lily is such a simple cute name.
I chose it because it is also one of my favorite flowers. Lily Soleil is her full name; Soleil meaning Sun in French; because she is also our little sunshine 🙂

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- Jordan Jan 22 at 6:04 pm
  
  Absolutely beautiful!! Love that name so much!!
  
  Reply
Rachel Jun 15 at 8:56 pm

It was the first name my husband and I agreed on! Also, we wanted a unique but not unheard of name.

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Rosemarie Jun 11 at 3:38 am

Awwwww that’s nice to share on how I got my baby the name lily. Was reading the Bible and found the verse that read “Lily among thorns” The reason why I went ahead to choose is that the name means beauty among odds. And the flower being able to stay among thorns shows its an overcome and can stand all persecution.
I like the name because it sounds nice and I might dislike it coz its a popular name.lol

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Sarah Apr 22 at 1:34 pm

I wanted a cute girl plant name and I wanted to spell it just like the flower. Lily was my first baby, I had 4 more kids all plant names. Ivy, Daisy, (2 boys Rowan and Arlo (trees)

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Katie Apr 13 at 1:15 pm

We name our daughter Lily because we love nature names, and the grace and beauty of the lily flower. We also love the verses in Matthew 6 of the Bible which y’all about lilies and the way the Lord provides for all living things.

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Melissa Apr 11 at 2:28 pm

The beauty of lilies is used in scripture to assure us of God’s providence.
Matthew 6:28-29 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.”

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Kimberly Apr 11 at 2:20 pm

Lily Hope because we already had four names starting with a “k” sound and needed something different!

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Mollie Apr 11 at 12:54 pm

Lily Raine. Sometimes a name is picked just because it sounds so nice! Lily’s name reminds me of spring and beauty and magic. It also means “Pure Queen,” so obviously we expect great things from her! It is occasionally annoying when people think her full name is “Lillian” or spell it “Lilly,” but I just tell them she is just like the flower.

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Lily