Lillie
Delicate and sweet flower, from the lily plant.
Name Census estimates that about 37,375 living Americans carry the first name Lillie. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Lillie today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lillie births was 1919 (3,277 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lillie. 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 Lillie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Lillie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 873 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
37K
~ 1 in 9,171 Americans
Peak year
1919
3,277 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1969 SSA rank
#684
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lillie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 36,987 people with the first name Lillie, which placed it at #1,115 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
#1,115
National first-name rank
People counted
37K
36,987 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lillie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lillie is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Black (43.9%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Lillie 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 Lillie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.0% · 16,997
- Black or African American43.9% · 16,243
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 1,698
- Two or more races3.6% · 1,326
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 442
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 281
Gender
Gender distribution for Lillie
Out of the 159,362 babies given the name Lillie since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lillie as a male name
- Ranked #4,769 in 1969
- 5 male births in 1969
- Peak: 1929 (28 births)
Lillie as a female name
- Ranked #684 in 2024
- 416 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (3,262 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lillie appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,984 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lillie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lillie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 29,587 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lillie 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 Lillie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lillies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, Alabama recorded the most babies named Lillie, while Wyoming, Connecticut, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,569 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lillie
The name Lillie is derived from the French name Lilie, which ultimately traces its roots back to the Latin name Lilium, meaning "lily" - the beautiful and fragrant flower. It first emerged as a given name during the Middle Ages in France and surrounding regions.
The lily flower held great symbolic significance in ancient times, representing purity, innocence, and renewal. It was closely associated with the Virgin Mary in Christian symbolism and appeared frequently in religious art and literature of the era. The name Lillie may have been bestowed upon children as a nod to these virtuous qualities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lillie can be found in the 13th century, when it was borne by Lillie de Rie, a noblewoman from the Duchy of Burgundy in what is now eastern France. By the 16th century, the name had spread across Europe, with notable figures such as Lillie Teerlinc (1510-1576), a Flemish Renaissance painter celebrated for her exquisite floral still life paintings.
In England, the name gained popularity during the Victorian era, perhaps influenced by the romantic associations with the delicate lily flower. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), an acclaimed British actress and socialite who was famously referred to as the "Jersey Lily" due to her birthplace on the Isle of Jersey.
Another notable Lillie was Lillie Devereux Blake (1833-1913), an American women's rights advocate and pioneering suffragist who fought tirelessly for women's right to vote and equal educational opportunities. Her efforts played a crucial role in paving the way for future generations of women's rights activists.
In the realm of literature, the name Lillie was immortalized by authors such as Henry James, who featured a character named Lillie Theale in his novel The Wings of the Dove (1902). This further cemented the name's association with grace, beauty, and fragility in the cultural consciousness of the time.
Throughout its long history, the name Lillie has been borne by numerous notable individuals, each leaving their mark on various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human experience. From artists and activists to writers and socialites, the name Lillie has carried with it a sense of elegance and refinement, reflecting the enduring allure of the delicate lily flower.
People
Lillie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lillie 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
Lillie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lillie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,375 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lillie 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 9,171 US residents.
Is Lillie a common name?
We classify Lillie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 159,362 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lillie most popular?
The single biggest year for Lillie was 1919, when 3,277 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lillie is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lillie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 36,987 people with the name Lillie, or 12.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,115 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 Lillie 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 Lillie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lillie appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,984 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Lillie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lillie is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Black (43.9%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Lillie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lillie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (16,997 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 Lillie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lillie a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Lillie 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 Lillie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lillie 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 Lillie 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 Lillie?
You can see how many Americans are named Lillie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.