Lilja
A feminine Scandinavian name meaning "lily" or "pure".
Name Census estimates that about 259 living Americans carry the first name Lilja. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lilja today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lilja births was 2024 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lilja. 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 Lilja with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
259
~ 1 in 1,323,376 Americans
Peak year
2024
19 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,274
Tracked since 1998
Census
Lilja in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 242 people with the first name Lilja, which placed it at #33,953 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
#33,953
National first-name rank
People counted
242
242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lilja
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lilja is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.5%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Lilja 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 Lilja at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.2% · 199
- Two or more races9.5% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 13
- Black or African American2.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Lilja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lilja from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 114 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lilja remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lilja 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 Lilja during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Liljas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lilja
The name Lilja originates from the Old Norse language and is derived from the word "lilja," meaning "lily." It has been a popular name in Scandinavian countries for centuries, particularly in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
In Old Norse mythology, the lily was associated with fertility and purity. The name Lilja was likely bestowed upon children as a symbol of these qualities and as a way to honor the beauty of the flower.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Lilja can be found in the Icelandic Saga of Erik the Red, written in the 13th century. The saga includes a character named Lilja, suggesting that the name was in use during the Viking Age.
Historically, notable individuals with the name Lilja include Lilja Birgisdóttir (1966-), an Icelandic poet and author known for her works that explore themes of love, identity, and the human condition. Lilja Sigurðardóttir (1958-), another Icelandic writer, has published several novels and short story collections.
In the realm of music, Lilja Bloom (1984-) is a Swedish singer-songwriter known for her folk-inspired sound and poetic lyrics. Lilja Praizovic (1990-) is a Swedish singer and Eurovision Song Contest participant who represented Sweden in 2019.
In the field of politics, Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir (1976-) is an Icelandic politician and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, known for her advocacy of human rights and environmental issues.
While the name Lilja has its roots in Old Norse culture, it has since gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in Scandinavian countries and communities with strong Nordic cultural ties.
People
Lilja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lilja 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
Lilja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lilja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 259 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lilja 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 1,323,376 US residents.
Is Lilja a common name?
We classify Lilja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lilja most popular?
The single biggest year for Lilja was 2024, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lilja is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lilja in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 242 people with the name Lilja, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,953 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 Lilja 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 Lilja?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lilja appears almost entirely female. Of the 247 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Lilja?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lilja is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.5%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Lilja most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lilja in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (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 Lilja in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lilja a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lilja 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 Lilja still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lilja 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 Lilja 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 Americans are named Lilja?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.