Mily
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "sort" or "type".
Name Census estimates that about 474 living Americans carry the first name Mily. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mily today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mily births was 2008 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mily. 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.
People living today
474
~ 1 in 723,110 Americans
Peak year
2008
47 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,991
Tracked since 1981
Popularity
Mily: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mily from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 193 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mily remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mily 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 Mily during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Milys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Mily, while Illinois, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mily
The name Mily has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly in the Czech and Slovak regions. It is a diminutive form of the name Milada, which means "gracious" or "dear one" and is derived from the Slavic root "mil," meaning "dear" or "beloved."
The earliest recorded use of the name Mily dates back to the 13th century in medieval Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic. It was a common name among the nobility and aristocracy of the region during that time period.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Mily was Mily of Pardubice (1279-1347), a Czech Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Prague and played a significant role in the religious and political affairs of Bohemia during the 14th century.
Another notable figure with the name Mily was Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), a Russian composer and conductor who was a prominent figure in the Russian nationalist school of composers known as "The Mighty Handful." His compositions, particularly his orchestral works, were influential in shaping the sound of Russian classical music in the late 19th century.
In literature, Mily is the name of a character in the novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, which is set in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring of 1968. The character, a young woman, represents the innocence and idealism of the era before the Soviet invasion.
The name Mily also has some historical connections to the Czech and Slovak feminist movements of the early 20th century. Mily Sokolová (1885-1976) was a prominent Czech feminist and writer who advocated for women's rights and equality.
Another notable bearer of the name was Mily Balakireva (1916-2001), a Slovak writer and journalist who was known for her works on women's issues and her contributions to the Slovak literary scene.
While the name Mily is not as common today as it was in the past, it still holds cultural significance in the Czech and Slovak regions, reminding of the rich history and heritage of these Slavic nations.
People
Mily + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mily as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mily: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mily?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 474 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mily 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 723,110 US residents.
Is Mily a common name?
We classify Mily as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 482 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mily most popular?
The single biggest year for Mily was 2008, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mily is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mily a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mily 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.
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.