Lily (name)

Lily
Lily, an Art Nouveau illustration by Alfons Mucha, 1898.
PronunciationEnglish: /lɪliː/
GenderFeminine
Origin
Meaninglilium
Other names
Alternative spellingLili, Lilli, Lillie, Lilly
Related namesLilia, Liliana, Liliane, Liliann, Lilibet, Lilibeth, Lilja, Lillian, Lilliana, Lilliane, Lillianne, Lillybeth, Lilyana, Lilyann, Lilyanna, Lilybeth, Lilymae, Lilyrose, Tigerlily

Lily is a feminine given name usually derived from lily, the flower. The name became particularly popular along with other flower names for girls during the 1800s and early 1900s. The lily also has associations with and has been symbolic of innocence and purity in Christian art.[1] [2] Names beginning with or containing the letter L have also been particularly fashionable for girls.[3] It is also occasionally used as a diminutive for other names such as Elizabeth.[4]

The popularity of the name increased steadily in most countries in western Europe and English-speaking countries during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.[5]

The name is often used in combination with other names, sometimes spelled with a hyphen and sometimes without. Well-used combination names in use in countries such as Canada and the United States include those influenced by Lillian or Liliana or considered a combination of Lily and the names Anna, Ann, or Anne, such as Liliann, Lilianna, Lili-Ann, Lili-Anne, Lillianna, Lillianne, Lillyana, Lillyann, Lilly-Ann, Lillyanna, Lillyanne, Lilly-Anne, Lilyana, Lilyanna, Lily-Anne and Lily-Ann.

Other popular combination names in use include Lily-Rose, a combination of Lily and the name Rose, which is particularly well used in Quebec, Canada, where it was the 65th most popular name for newborn girls in 2022[6] and ranked among the top 300 names overall for girls in Canada in 2021, placing 297th on the popularity chart with 105 uses for Canadian girls that year, and its spelling variants Lili-Rose, which had nine uses in Canada in 2021, and Lilirose, Lilly-Rose, and Lilyrose.[7][8] The name Lilyrose or Lily-Rose is also well used in England and Wales, where it has ranked among the top 1,000 names for girls since 2001 and among the top 500 names since 2006,[9] and in France, where it has ranked among the top 500 names for French girls since 2004.[10] It ranked among the top 200 names for newborn girls in Belgium in 2021.[11] The name has also seen increased use in the United States, though it has not ranked among the top 1,000 names for American girls. Thirty-five American girls were given the name Lilyrose in 2022 and eleven American girls were called Lillyrose that year.[12]

Other related or associated names include, among others, Lilia, Lilibet, Lilibeth, Lilika, Lilith, Lilja, Lilou, and Tigerlily.

Madonna of the Lilies, 1905, by Alfons Mucha.
Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent, 1885.

People

Fictional characters

Names with the same meaning

Some equivalents for the name Lily from other cultures include:[13]

  • Azucena (Spanish)
  • Crina (Romanian)
  • Đurđica (Croatian)
  • Kielo (Finnish)
  • Nari (Korean)
  • Susan (Hebrew)
  • Yuri (Japanese)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lily - Baby Name Meaning, Origin, and Popularity".
  2. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 170. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.
  3. ^ Williams, Alex (12 June 2021). "Lilith, Lilibet … Lucifer? How Baby Names Went to 'L': Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are hardly the only new parents gravitating toward quirk, family tradition and "L" names". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  4. ^ Sandel, Abby (1 December 2020). "Elizabeth Nicknames: Betty, Liza, Elle". appellationmountain.net. Appellation Mountain (blog). Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Meaning, origin and history of the name Lily".
  6. ^ "Retraite Québec - Recherche par popularité".
  7. ^ "First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators". www150.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. 9 May 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Baby Names". www.ssa.gov. United States Social Security Administration. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Popularity for the name Lilyrose - Behind the Name".
  10. ^ "Popularity for the name Lilyrose - Behind the Name".
  11. ^ "Popularity for the name Lilyrose - Behind the Name".
  12. ^ "Baby Names". www.ssa.gov. United States Social Security Administration. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Names Inspired by Spring Flowers". NamepediA Blog. 2 April 2021.