Lilah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "night" or "nocturnal".
Name Census estimates that about 21,705 living Americans carry the first name Lilah. It sits at #179 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lilah today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lilah births was 2024 (1,685 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lilah. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lilah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lilah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,791 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,685 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#179
Tracked since 1884
Census
Lilah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,983 people with the first name Lilah, which placed it at #1,980 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,980
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,983 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lilah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lilah is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lilah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lilah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.9% · 10,199
- Hispanic or Latino15.7% · 2,196
- Two or more races6.8% · 951
- Black or African American2.4% · 338
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 219
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 80
Popularity
Lilah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lilah from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 10,750 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lilah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lilah 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 Lilah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lilahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Lilah, while Vermont, Delaware, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 411 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lilah
The name Lilah has its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the word "lailah," meaning "night" or "night-born." It is believed to have emerged during the ancient times in the Middle Eastern region, particularly among the Jewish community.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lilah can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Isaiah, a passage mentions "the daughter of Lilah," suggesting the use of this name during the biblical era.
Lilah was also a prominent figure in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. The Talmud references a woman named Lilah who was known for her wisdom and scholarly contributions.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Lilah. One such person was Lilah Mercer (1880-1959), an American author and playwright who wrote several successful Broadway plays in the early 20th century.
Another notable figure was Lilah Denton (1918-2005), an American artist and sculptor who gained recognition for her abstract and minimalist works. Her sculptures can be found in various museums and public spaces across the United States.
In the field of music, Lilah Tov (1928-2018) was a renowned Israeli singer and actress. She was widely celebrated for her contributions to the Israeli music industry and her performances in theater productions.
Lilah Kedrova (1904-1992) was a Russian-born actress who achieved international fame for her role in the film "Zorba the Greek" in 1964, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Lastly, Lilah Raptopoulos (born in 1983) is a contemporary American journalist and author. She has written for various publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and has published several books exploring topics related to culture and identity.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Lilah throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the richness and diversity of cultures across the globe.
People
Lilah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lilah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lilah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lilah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21,705 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lilah 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 15,791 US residents.
Is Lilah a common name?
We classify Lilah as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,916 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lilah most popular?
The single biggest year for Lilah was 2024, when 1,685 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lilah is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lilah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,983 people with the name Lilah, or 4.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,980 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lilah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lilah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lilah appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,981 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lilah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lilah is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lilah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lilah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.9% (10,199 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lilah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lilah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lilah 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.
Is Lilah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lilah in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lilah can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are called Lilah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.