Lily
Top 1000
About Lily
Lily is the most popular of the popular delicate century-old flower names now making a return, thanks to its many irresistible attributes: a cool elegance and a lovely sound, a symbol of purity and innocence, and a role in Christian imagery.
Lily's use as a given name was a direct influence of the flower. The floral name was derived from the Latin lilium, itself derived from the Greek leirion. Lily later became an adjective to describe whiteness and purity.
Lily is a favorite of celebrity parents, including Chris O'Donnell, Kate Beckinsale, Greg Kinnear, Fred Savage, and Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis (who made it a double bouquet, with Lily-Rose). The more proper Lillian is also rising in popularity, though Lily has long stood on its own.
There were about 6000 baby girls named Lily in the US last year, but there were over 6000 named Lily, nearly 4000 called Lillian (many of whom will be called some variation of Lily), another 3000 called Liliana, 1200 named Lilith, and 400 called Lillie. Counted all together, that's more babies named a form of Lily than are given Number 1 name Olivia.
Lily is an authors' favorite, some notable example being Lily Bart, the main character of Edith Wharton's House of Mirth, Lily Owens in The Secret Life of Bees and both mother and daughter of Harry Potter. Other current bearers are Lily Tomlin, singer Lily Allen, and actress Lily James. Two one-time starbaby Lilys are now celebrities on their own: Lily Collins, daughter of Phil, and Lily Rabe, daughter of Jill Clayburgh and David Rabe.
Lily is currently quite popular throughout the English-speaking world as well as in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and other European countries. Other possible spellings are Lilly, Lili, and Lillie.
As of October 2026, Lily ranked #18 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #15 in 2011, Nameberry popularity #51.
Editor's take: The name Lily is a girl's name of English origin meaning "lily".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #27 | 6,785 | 3,798.2 |
| 2015 | #25 | 6,679 | 3,741.5 |
| 2016 | #24 | 6,608 | 3,729.1 |
| 2017 | #33 | 5,861 | 3,394.8 |
| 2018 | #31 | 5,752 | 3,381.4 |
| 2019 | #34 | 5,458 | 3,252 |
| 2020 | #36 | 5,251 | 3,248.3 |
| 2021 | #31 | 5,629 | 3,430.5 |
| 2022 | #30 | 6,007 | 3,662.5 |
| 2023 | #20 | 6,170 | 3,845.2 |
| 2024 | #24 | 6,093 | 3,760.7 |
| 2025 | #18 | 6,673 | 4,151.8 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Lily.
- Grace
- Rose
- Chloe
- Olivia
- Sophie
- Scarlett
- Ella
- Emma
- Sophia
- Mia
- Stella
- Ava
- Lucy
- Amelia
- Charlotte
- Isabella
- Claire
- Eva
- Audrey
- Evelyn
Lily on lists
Famous Lilys
- Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin
American actress and comedian
- Lily Jane Collins
British,American actress and model; daughter of singer Phil Collins
- Lily Maud Aldridge
American supermodel
- Lily Rose Beatrice Allen
English singer
- Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson "Lily James"
English actress
- Lily Luahana Cole
English model
- Lily May Loveless
English actress
- Lily Monica Donaldson
English model
- Lily Rabe
American actress
- Susan Mary "Lily" Yeats
Irish embroiderer
- Lily Yeh
Chinese artist
- Lily Camille McMenamy
English model and actress
- Lily Omundson
daughter of actor Timothy Omundson
- Lily Fraser (b. 1989)
daughter of actors Hugh Fraser and Belinda Lang
- Lily Grace Atkinson (b. 1995)
daughter of actor Rowan Atkinson
- Lily
Mae Evans, English actress
- Lily Platt (b. 1995)
daughter of actor Oliver Platt
- Lily Armstrong (b. 1996)
daughter of actor Curtis Armstrong
- Lily "Remy" Weinstein (b. 1997)
daughter of film producer Harvey Weinstein and Eve Chilton
- Lily Moore (b. 1998)
daughter of guitarist Gary Moore
- Lily Anne O'Donnell (b. 1999)
daughter of actor Chris O'Donnell
- Lily
Rose Melody Depp (b. 1999), daughter of actor Johnny Depp and model Vanessa Paradis
- Lily Mo Beckinsale
Sheen (b. 1999), daughter of actors Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen
- Lily Cye Coleman (b. 2000)
daughter of composer Cy Coleman
- Lily Pearl Black (b. 2001)
daughter of singer Clint Black and actress Lisa Hartman Black
- Lily
Rose Purcell (b. 2003), daughter of actor Dominic Purcell; twin brother Augustus
- Lily Dolores Harris (b. 2003)
daughter of actors Ed Harris and Amy Madigan
- Lily Margaret Brant (b. 2004)
daughter of model Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant
- Lily Katherine Kinnear (b. 2004)
daughter of actor Greg Kinnear
- Lily
Rose Womack (b. 2005), daughter of actors Mark Womack and Samantha Janus
- Lily
Rose Chabal (b. 2005), daughter of rugby player Sebastien Chabal
- Lily Aster Gottfried (b. 2007)
daughter of American comedian Gilbert Gottfried
- Lily Aerin Savage (b. 2008)
daughter of actor Fred Savage
- Lily Greenfield (b. 2009)
daughter of actor Max Greenfield
- Lily Hannigan (b. 2010)
daughter of actress Pia Miranda and singer Luke Hannigan of Lo,Tel
- Lily Bloom Iero (b. 2010)
daughter of musician Frank Iero; twin of Cherry
- Lily Abigail Brandt (b. 2010)
daughter of country music singer Paul Brandt
- Lily Bennington (b. 2011)
daughter of singer Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and model Talinda Bennington; twin sister Lila
- Lily Rose Gagné (b. 2011)
daughter of ice hockey player Simon Gagné
- Lily Tergesen (b. 2012)
daughter of actor Lee Tergesen
- Lily Christina Lloyd (b. 2012)
daughter of actor Gareth David,Lloyd
- Lily Georgina Walker (b. 2013)
daughter of television personality Brooke Anderson
- Lily Forsberg (b. 2014)
daughter of ice hockey player Peter Forsberg
- Lily Grace Victoria Rothschild (b. 2016)
daughter of TV personality Nicky Hilton and James Rothschild
Lily in pop culture
- Lily Briscoe
character in Virginia Woolf's 'To The Lighthouse'
- Lily Evans Potter
mother of Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series
- Lily Luna Potter
daughter of Harry Potter
- Lily Moon
original name of Harry Potter character Luna Lovegood
- Lily Chen
character in Cassandra Clare's "The Mortal Instruments"
- Lily Moscovitz
character in The Princess Diaries
- Lily Aldrin
character on TV's "How I Met Your Mother"
- Lily Catherine Hue Magnum
daughter of the title character in TV's "Magnum"
- Lily/Summer Robinson
character in "The Cellar" by Natasha Preston
- Lily Sloane
character in movie "Star Trek: First Contact"
- Princess Lily
character in "Princess of the Midnight Ball" by Jessica Day George
- Princess Lily
character in "Entwined" by Heather Dixon
- Lily
the white cat from Kiki's Delivery Service
- Lily Bart
main character in Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth"
- Lily Munster
vampire character on TV's "The Munsters"
- Lily Goldenblatt
Charlotte's daughter on TV's "Sex and the City"
- Lily Tucker
Pritchett, daughter of Cam and Mitch on TV's "Modern Family"
- Lillian "Lily" Celia Bass
Serena's mother on TV's "Gossip Girl"
- Lily Chandly
character in "The Basic Eight" by Daniel Handler
- Lily Luster
character in 2012 film "Passion Play"
- Lillian "Lily" Salvatore
character on TV's "The Vampire Diaries"
- Lily
employee in the AT&T commercials
- Lily
main character in 1982 film "Bayou Romance"
- Lillian "Lily" Prescott
character on TV's "Hannah Montana" played by Emily Osment
- Lily Roe Scott
daughter of Karen Roe and Keith Scott, sister to Lucas Scott on TV's "One Tree Hill"
- Lily Bowen
character in video game 'Fallout: New Vegas'
- Lily Mercy
character in movie "Montana Sky"
- Panther Lily
character in manga/anime 'Fairy Tail'
- Lily Calloway Hale
character in Krista and Becca Ritchie's Addicted Series
- Lily Loud
a character from the Nickelodeon cartoon "The Loud House"
- Lily
sister of Jonas in Lois Lowry's "The Giver"
- Lily Stein
character in DC Universe
- Lily Summers
character on TV's "Switched at Birth" played by Rachel Shenton
- Lily Saylor
character in movie "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House" played by Ruth Wilson
- Lily
a Japanese Vocaloid.
- Lily
a frog villager from “Animal Crossing”
- "Rose the Red and White Lily"
A ballad in the 19th century collection "The Child Ballads"
Variations & nicknames
- LysFrench
- LiliahGreek
- LiliaRussian
- LiliyaRussian
- LiliGerman
- LilikaGreek
- LiaRussian
- LilianeFrench
- LilikeSlavic
- LilieGerman
- LiyaRussian