Lillian

Where Lillian comes from

Used since the sixteenth century, possibly originally a pet form of Elizabeth, but generally accepted as a variant of Late Latin lilium (“lily”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Lillian
  • Latin
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #32 among girls — 672 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1893
    Lillian Gish born
    American actor, actress, motion picture producers and director, screenwriter
  3. 1900
    Peak, #10
    3,414 babies named Lillian — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1905
    Lillian Hellman born
    American dramatist and screenwriter
  5. 2010
    The comeback
    Back to #22 after sinking to #486 in 1978.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Latin, of American usage; variant form Lilian (UK).
Namesakes
  • Lillian Gish · American actor, actress, motion picture producers and director, screenwriter, 1893–1993
  • Lillian Hellman · American dramatist and screenwriter, 1905–1984
  • Lillian Moller Gilbreth · American psychologist and industrial engineer, 1878–1972
  • Lillian Wald · American nurse and activist, 1867–1940
  • Lillian Copeland · American athletics competitor, 1904–1964

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.