Entry № 5940 · English origin

Lily Lily — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ LIL-ee /
Gender
Girl
Origin
English
Meaning
"The flower; purity"
Syllables
2
First recorded
19th c.

A name that means "the flower; purity".

Lily is the English name of the flower, ultimately from the Latin lilium. In Christian symbolism, the white lily represents purity and is closely associated with the Virgin Mary; in classical mythology, the lily sprang from drops of Hera's milk. The name's modern use derives from the flower rather than from any earlier given name.

Today it sits in the U.S. top 30 and is consistently in the top 5 in the United Kingdom.

The flower of purity. Two syllables, no ambiguity.

The name in its native script.

Lily
Transliteration
Lily
Pronunciation
/ ˈlɪl.i /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Lily stands.

Lily does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Lilys before her.

Real people
Lily Tomlin
American actress and comedian. Pioneer of female stand-up.
born 1939
Lily Allen
British singer-songwriter and broadcaster.
born 1985
Lily Collins
British-American actress. Star of Emily in Paris.
born 1989
In fiction
Lily Potter
Mother of Harry Potter, sacrificed her life to save him.
Harry Potter novels
Lily Aldrin
Character in the TV series How I Met Your Mother.
CBS, 2005–2014

Names connected to Lily.

The number behind Lily.

4

The Builder

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Lily reduce to 4, The Builder. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.