Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Lily?
Births per year, rank history and how many Lilies are alive today.
Lily is one of the ten most popular girls' names in England and Wales, ranked 3rd in 2024 with 2,185 babies given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 1904, when around 4,800 babies were given the name, the 20th most popular that year. It was almost as popular in 2011, with 4,761 babies given the name that year. Lily's popularity is double-peaked: popular in the early 1900s, having dropped out of the top 100 in between, and stronger still at its peak in the 2010s. Numbers have been stable in recent years. At least 82,000 babies have been named Lily in England and Wales since 1904. Figures before 1996 are estimates. Lily is one spelling of a name also recorded as Lili, Lillie and Lilly; the combined figures below cover every spelling. Common short forms of Lily include Lili.
Across all spellings of the name, the Lily you are most likely to meet is around 15 years old. Half of all Lilies born in England and Wales are between 11 and 25, and there are at least 120,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 32% chance that at least one of them will be called Lily.
How many babies are named Lily each year?
Includes all spellings: Lily, Lili, Lillie, Lilly. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Lily spelling rank?
Where does the Lili spelling rank?
Where does the Lillie spelling rank?
Where does the Lilly spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Lily most popular?
Lily peaked in 2011, when 7,319 babies in England and Wales were given the name across all spellings.
How many people are called Lily?
At least 120,000 people named Lily in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Lily?
Most living Lilies are between 11 and 25; the most common age is about 15.
Is Lily becoming more or less popular?
Reviving: it has returned to the top 100 after time away.