Lily comes from the Latin word lilium, which means "lily." It refers to a number of plants native to the temperate northern hemisphere that are known for their showy flowers. Types of lily include calla lily, water lily, tiger lily and Madonna lily.
The name Lily was fairly popular at the start of the 20th century, but it slowly declined in popularity from the 1920s through the 1960s. In fact, it was at its lowest point during the '60s and '70s. It rebounded in the 1980s and '90s, and in 2002 entered the top 100 for the first time. In 2008, it was the 24th most popular baby girl name in the nation, right below Brianna and right above Hailey.
And it's also popular in regions and countries outside of the U.S., including Australia, Canada, England, Wales, New Zealand, Hungary, and the Isle of Man.
Popular spelling variants of Lily include Lilly and Lillie. Other variants and elaborations include Lili, Lilee, Lilie, Lilye, Lilia, Lilli, Lillee, Lillye and Lillia.
Lily is frequently used as a nickname for longer names such as Lillian (29th now in the U.S.), Liliana, Lilliana, Lilian, Lilyana, Lilianna, Lillianna.
Notable people who have been named Lily (or Lili) include:
- Lily Braun (1865-1916) - German feminist writer.
- Lily Kronberger (1890-1974) - Hungarian figure skater.
- Lily Laskine (1893-1988) - French harpist
- Lili Damita (1904-1994) - French actress.
- Lili de Alvarez (1905-1998) - Spanish athlete.
- Lily Carlstedt (1926-2005) - Danish athlete.
- Lily Safra (b. 1938) - Brazilian philanthropist.
- Lily Brett (b. 1946) - Australian novelist.
- Lili Taylor (b. 1967) - American actress.
- Lily Kim (b. 1980) - Korean-American journalist.
- Lily Allen (b. 1985) - English singer-songwriter.
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