Lilly
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "pure, modest, innocent".
Name Census estimates that about 53,208 living Americans carry the first name Lilly. It sits at #259 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lilly today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lilly births was 2010 (2,890 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lilly. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lilly with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
53K
~ 1 in 6,442 Americans
Peak year
2010
2,890 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2008 SSA rank
#259
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lilly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 54,549 people with the first name Lilly, which placed it at #846 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
#846
National first-name rank
People counted
55K
54,549 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
18.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lilly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lilly is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Lilly 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 Lilly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.6% · 39,037
- Hispanic or Latino13.9% · 7,607
- Two or more races5.3% · 2,865
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 2,343
- Black or African American3.8% · 2,067
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 630
Gender
Gender distribution for Lilly
Out of the 65,499 babies given the name Lilly since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lilly as a male name
- Ranked #13,785 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 2004 (9 births)
Lilly as a female name
- Ranked #259 in 2024
- 1,217 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (2,890 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lilly appears almost entirely female. Of the 54,556 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lilly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lilly from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 23,508 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lilly 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 Lilly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lillys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Lilly, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,131 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lilly
The name Lilly is a feminine given name with roots in various languages and cultures. It is derived from the Latin name Lilium, meaning "lily" – the beautiful and fragrant flower. This floral association traces back to ancient Greece and Rome, where the lily symbolized purity, fertility, and renewal.
The name Lilly gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in England and France. It was often bestowed upon girls born around Easter or during the spring season, as the lily was a prominent symbol of the Resurrection in Christian traditions. Historical records show variations like Lylie, Lili, and Lillie appearing in parish registers as early as the 13th century.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Liliosa, a French noblewoman who lived in the 12th century. She was celebrated for her beauty and virtue, contributing to the name's positive connotations.
In literature, the name Lilly appears in the works of renowned authors such as William Shakespeare. In his play "Love's Labour's Lost," the character Lilly is a vivacious and witty young woman, reflecting the name's association with beauty and charm.
Notable historical figures named Lilly include:
1. Lilly Martin Spencer (1822-1902), an American painter known for her genre scenes depicting domestic life.
2. Lilly Ledbetter (born 1938), an American activist who fought for equal pay and inspired the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
3. Lilly Wambaugh (1898-1976), an American writer and one of the first female police officers in Oregon.
4. Lilly Reich (1885-1947), a German modernist designer and collaborator with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
5. Lilly Jacobsson (1939-2022), a Swedish painter and sculptor known for her abstract works.
Throughout history, the name Lilly has been associated with qualities such as grace, beauty, and resilience, often drawing inspiration from the delicate yet hardy lily flower. Its enduring popularity across cultures and generations reflects its timeless appeal and symbolic resonance.
People
Lilly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lilly 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
Lilly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lilly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 53,208 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lilly 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 6,442 US residents.
Is Lilly a common name?
We classify Lilly as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 65,499 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lilly most popular?
The single biggest year for Lilly was 2010, when 2,890 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lilly is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lilly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 54,549 people with the name Lilly, or 18.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #846 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 Lilly 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 Lilly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lilly appears almost entirely female. Of the 54,556 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Lilly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lilly is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Lilly most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lilly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.6% (39,037 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 Lilly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lilly a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lilly in the SSA data are female. 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 Lilly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lilly 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 Lilly 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 people are named Lilly?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.