Names That Mean Lily

If you're ready to move beyond Anna and Hannah, consider this traditional Scandinavian short form of Susanna, historically very popular in its native lands.

Azucena is the Spanish name for the Madonna lily, or white lily, derived from the Arabic words ‘abyad, "white", and zanbaq, "lily". White lilies are symbols of the Virgin Mary, which gives the flower its alternate name, Madonna lily.

In France, Lilian is the masculine form of Liliane or Lilianne, and has been surprisingly popular there in recent years. In the Top 500 since the 1930s, Lilian reached a peak of #60 for boys in France in 2006.

Lili has been blooming in many forms for a couple of decades now. The Lili version will surely get more attention now that the Duke and Duchess of Susses, aka Harry and Meghan, are using is as a short form for their daughter Lilibet Diana's name. Lili makes the slight and light though that is not necessarily a bad thing; it also mutes the name's floral identity and gives it a cute and quirky repetitive spelling, ala Coco and Lulu. A famous German song is titled Lili Marlene.

Sanni derives from Sanna, a variation of Susanna used in Scandinavia.

This spelling seems to be taking off as a result of media appearances as characters in first "Gilmore Girls" and then as Sookie Stackhouse, the Anna Paquin character in "True Blood," based on "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" series of books by Charlaine Harris.

Remember Zuzu, the adorable little girl you watch every Christmas in "It's a Wonderful Life"? Here's a direct path to that nickname, a lot more zesty than the more familiar Susannah.

Spunky old vaudeville era nickname name suddenly sounds new again.

Possibly a variant of Lirio, from Latin lilium.

Niloufar is a gorgeous Persian name used in Iran, Turkey (as Nilüfer), and Azerbaijan. It has many alternate spellings including Nilofar, which is used by Urdu speakers.

Cute and quirky Lily alternative.

A Finnish word name for the lily of the valley flower.

Lilit in the Top 20 girls names is Armenia. Outside of Armenia, Lilit might be confused with Lilith, but is worth considering as a name in its own right.

An unusual member of the "Lily" family of names, this one gives you the option for sweet vintage nickname Winnie, too. It's very unusual even in its native country, never given to more than 3 babies per year since naming records began in 1996.

An elaboration of cute French nickname name Lilou, or the Breton form of Lilwen. An unusual and appealing Lily name.

One of the few French words/names not attractive to the American ear. It's pronounced moo-gay, not a winner on either syllable. Alternatives: Liliane, Lily, Lilou, Manon.

Lilyana is variant of "Lillian" or "Liliana", which are elaborations of the flower name "Lily".

Roselil is a sweet Danish name made famous by the song Roselil og hendes moder (Roselil and Her Mother) and the eponymous collection of children's fables written by author Josefine Ottesen. It is derived from a combination of the Danish word for "rose" plus the word for "lily" or "little".

Makes Susan or Susie more buzzy.