Lily
Pronounced L IH1 L IY0 (ARPABET)
- 2 syllables
- Peaked 2011
- 145 years in use
- 6 spellings
How popular is Lily?
Lily is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 414,534 children — the 97th most common girls' name on record.
It has been slipping, down 26% on the previous decade. Its best single year was 2011, when 12,001 children were given it.
Six other spellings are counted in that total — Lillie, Lilly, Lili and three more — because they are pronounced identically.
Spelling variants
These spellings sound identical to Lily and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.
- Lillie
- Lilly
- Lili
- Lilli
- Lilley
- Liley
Characteristics
- Alliterative
- 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- L IH1 L IY0
- Stress pattern:
- 10
- Syllables:
- 2
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Lily
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Lily
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Lily?
- Lily ranks 97th among girls' names in US records, with 414,534 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 81,190.
- Is Lily a unisex name?
- No. Lily is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
- When was Lily most popular?
- 2011, when 12,001 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
- How else is Lily spelled?
- Lillie, Lilly, Lili, Lilli, Lilley, Liley. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.