MEANING & HISTORY
What does Lily mean?
Lily is an English flower name adopted as a given name. The flower word comes through older English and Latin lilium.
It can also be used as a short form of Lilian or, in some naming traditions, Elizabeth. The direct flower explanation is clear and does not require turning symbolic associations such as purity into literal etymology. Those associations belong to cultural interpretations of the flower.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /ˈlili/Standard-Tagalog
- [ˈliː.lɪ]Standard-Tagalog
Li · ly2 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from English Lily, from lily.
a female given name from English
CebuanoEtymology & source
From English Lily, from lily.
a female given name from English
EnglishEtymology & source
A 19th-century flower name, from lily. Also a diminutive of Lilian and sometimes Elizabeth.
A female given name from English, popular around 1900 and currently returning to favor.
EnglishEtymology & source
Used since the sixteenth century, possibly originally a pet form of Elizabeth, but generally accepted as a variant of Late Latin lilium (“lily”).
A female given name from Latin.
EnglishEtymology & source
From Middle English Elizabeth, from the Ancient Greek Ἐλισάβετ (Elisábet), a transliteration of the Old Testament Biblical Hebrew אלישבע (ʔĕlîšeḇaʕ, “my God is an oath”). See El and שבועה. Doublet of Elisheba and Isabel.
A female given name from Hebrew, popular since the 16th century.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Lily
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Lily Monteverde
Filipino film producer and businesswoman (1938–2024)
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
3
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
2
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Lily Monteverde, Lily Tan
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Lily in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Lily
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Emily♀English feminine of the Roman family name Aemilius
- Liam♂Irish short form of William, whose elements mean will and protection
- Libby♀Familiar form of Elizabeth; also liberation-name nicknames
- Lilia♀Lily or lilies
- Lina♀Short form of names ending in lina
- Lisa♀Short form of Elizabeth, or Cebuano Felisa
- Lita♀Short form of names ending in -lita
- Lito♂Familiar form from Spanish diminutive names
What rhymes with Lily?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Recorded combinations with Lily
1 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
Explore combinations →Explore Lily further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q11264166 — Lily (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Lily Monteverde (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q11264166 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Lily Tan (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q11264166 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Lily (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Lily (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Lily (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Lily (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Lily (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Lily (opens in a new tab)
Name formation and linguistic history; consulted existing imported etymology.