How rare is the name Lily?

155,678 people in the United States have the first name Lily, about 1 in 1,940. It ranks #360 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

LILY

#360

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
155,678
About
1 in 1,940
This common or more
52.3%
Who bears it

Of the 155,678 people named Lily, 69.1% reported their origin as White, 12.7% as Hispanic or Latino and 9.8% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Lily peaked in 2011, when 8,199 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2011
Births that year
8,199
In 2025*
6,673 ▼19%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 189,789 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Lily by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2010s, when it ranked #79. The largest share of babies named Lily, 45.1%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1880s#426680
1890s#437979
1900s#5021,045
1910s#5862,795
1920s#6403,762
1930s#8012,234
1940s#1,1131,511
1950s#1,3971,426
1960s#1,6761,148
1970s#1,7631,220
1980s#1,1992,714
1990s#5819,772
2000s#12556,263
2010s#7968,363
2020s#8035,877
Before 19010.9%
Greatest Generation 1901–273.6%
Silent Generation 1928–452%
Baby boom 1946–641.4%
Generation X 1965–801%
Millennials 1981–963.7%
Generation Z 1997–1245.1%
2013 and later42.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Lily is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Lily has been most common in Utah (2.3×), Hawaii (2.2×), and Nevada (2.1×), and least common in West Virginia (0.45×).

182,449 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Lily

#358 Willie · 156,156#359 Sebastian · 156,144#361 Randall · 155,628#362 Wesley · 155,434

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Lily, most common first.

#846 Lilly · 54,556#997 Lila · 43,201#2,657 Lili · 8,870#10,324 Lil · 1,299#14,160 Lilya · 837#21,056 Lilo · 486#32,402 Lile · 260#34,154 Lilu · 240

Also a last name

As a last name, Lily ranks #48,712 of 156,621, with 468 people. See Lily as a last name

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