Lilli
From Latin lilium, the lily: a German form that keeps its double l where Polish would write Lila. Most Poles have never met one, and it stays rare, with only a handful of girls given it each year.
Lilli Pronunciation
Lilli is pronounced LEEL-lee (/ˈlilli/).
What Lilli means
Where Lilli comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Lilli grows from Latin. The Roman word lilium named the flower we call the lily, and from that root a family of flower names spread across Europe. In German-speaking lands Lilli settled in as a bright, affectionate form, worn on its own rather than shortened from anything longer. Its English meaning is simply "lily"; in Polish, lilia.
The flower gathered meanings before the name did. A lily can stand for purity in Christian art, though that reading was attached to the bloom over centuries and does not sit inside the Latin word itself. Lilium describes the plant. The rest is what people brought to it.
Real bearers give the name its record. Lilli Palmer, the German actress born in 1914, carried it through European cinema and on to Hollywood.
On a Polish class register today, Lilli sits among the Lenas and Zuzannas, its double l marking the German spelling rather than the Polish Lila. The meaning holds steady: lily, lilia, the flower named lilium.
How many people are named Lilli
1 in 82882 women in Poland is named Lilli. 272 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1845 among female names.
Lilli's popularity over time
4 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1090 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2012.
Where Lilli is most popular
Lilli is most popular in Lower Silesian, 213% above the national average (5 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Subcarpathian (+144%) and Kuyavian-Pomeranian (+80%). It is least common in Masovian and Silesian, 45% and 14% below average respectively.
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Lower Silesian5 girls born+213%
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Subcarpathian3 girls born+144%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian2 girls born+80%
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Łódź2 girls born+55%
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Pomeranian2 girls born+33%
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Greater Poland2 girls born−9%
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Lesser Poland2 girls born−13%
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Silesian2 girls born−14%
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Masovian2 girls born−45%
Lilli as a middle name
Lilli is a first name for 272 women in Poland and a middle name for another 47, an 85/15 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1005th, between Inge (47) and Lizeth (47).
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#1003 Elisabet47
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#1004 Inge47
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#1005 Lilli47
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#1006 Lizeth47
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#1007 Mária47