Lilliam vs Lilly
American parents have registered 66,752 Lillys since 1880, against 825 Lilliams. Lilly is still ahead, with 1,218 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Lilliam Lilly
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Lilly has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1971, when Lilliam had 22 and Lilly had 76.
Side by side
| Lilliam | Lilly | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 825 | 66,752 |
| Most in one year | 23 | 2,891 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 1,218 |
| Estimated living today | 580 | 55,000 |
| Median age today | 52 | 14 |
| Peak year | 1966 | 2010 |
| Best rank | 2,519th girls | 106th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 252nd |
| First recorded | 1886 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 825 / 0 | 66,728 / 24 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Lilliams alive today are over 52; half the Lillys are over 14. That is 38 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Lilliam and Lilly.