Lillard
A diminutive form of William, derived from Germanic elements meaning "resolute protection".
Name Census estimates that about 106 living Americans carry the first name Lillard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lillard today is around 81 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lillard births was 1924 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lillard. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Lillard is about 81 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lillards were born before 1955.
People living today
106
~ 1 in 3,233,531 Americans
Peak year
1924
21 babies that year
Average age
81
years old
1961 SSA rank
#4,416
Tracked since 1885
Census
Lillard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 155 people with the first name Lillard, which placed it at #44,540 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#44,540
National first-name rank
People counted
155
155 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lillard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lillard is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Hispanic (4.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lillard described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lillard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.4% · 120
- Black or African American16.1% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Popularity
Lillard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lillard from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 161 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lillard by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lillard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lillards live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas recorded the most babies named Lillard, while Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lillard
The name Lillard is an English given name that dates back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English word "lil", meaning "small" or "little", and the suffix "-ard", which was commonly used to form diminutive names. Lillard was originally a nickname given to a small or petite person.
The earliest recorded use of the name Lillard can be traced back to the 13th century. In 1265, a man named Lillard de Brokesby was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire. This suggests that the name was already in use among the English population during this time.
Lillard continued to be used as a first name throughout the medieval period and into the Renaissance. One notable figure with this name was Lillard Bawdewyn, a 14th-century English merchant and alderman who lived in London. He was involved in the wool trade and served as an alderman of the city in 1374.
In the 16th century, a Lillard Cooke was recorded as a member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers in London. This indicates that the name was still in use among the English middle class during the Tudor period.
During the 17th century, the name Lillard appeared in several historical records. Lillard Crispe was an English landowner and justice of the peace who lived in Kent in the early 1600s. Another notable figure was Lillard Whittington, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses who lived in the late 1600s.
In the 18th century, Lillard Greenfield was a prominent English banker and financier who played a role in the development of the British financial system. He was born in 1702 and lived until 1768.
As the name spread beyond England, it also appeared in other parts of the world. In the 19th century, Lillard Brownson was an American writer and philosopher who was born in Vermont in 1803 and died in 1876. He was known for his works on philosophy and religion.
People
Lillard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lillard as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lillard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lillard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 106 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lillard going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,233,531 US residents.
Is Lillard a common name?
We classify Lillard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 541 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lillard most popular?
The single biggest year for Lillard was 1924, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lillard is about 81 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lillard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 155 people with the name Lillard, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,540 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lillard in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lillard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lillard leans strongly male. 141 people counted with this name were male (91.0%), compared with 14 female bearers (9.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lillard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lillard is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Hispanic (4.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lillard most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lillard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.4% (120 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lillard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lillard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lillard in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lillard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lillard in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lillard can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Lillard?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.