Lily
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from English, popular around 1900 and currently returning to favor. A 19th-century flower name, from lily. Also a diminutive of Lilian and sometimes Elizabeth.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Lily (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Lily has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2016. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 9 |
| 2005 | 19 |
| 2006 | 26 |
| 2007 | 51 |
| 2008 | 77 |
| 2009 | 112 |
| 2010 | 137 |
| 2011 | 160 |
| 2012 | 181 |
| 2013 | 199 |
| 2014 | 247 |
| 2015 | 231 |
| 2016 | 279 |
| 2017 | 217 |
| 2018 | 231 |
| 2019 | 220 |
| 2020 | 207 |
| 2021 | 241 |
| 2022 | 195 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 141 |
| 2000 | 146 |
| 2001 | 143 |
| 2002 | 150 |
| 2003 | 156 |
| 2004 | 164 |
| 2005 | 174 |
| 2006 | 202 |
| 2007 | 251 |
| 2008 | 335 |
| 2009 | 460 |
| 2010 | 606 |
| 2011 | 771 |
| 2012 | 952 |
| 2013 | 1,162 |
| 2014 | 1,419 |
| 2015 | 1,650 |
| 2016 | 1,935 |
| 2017 | 2,166 |
| 2018 | 2,403 |
| 2019 | 2,648 |
| 2020 | 2,855 |
Lily in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Lily.Hi! My name is Lily.
- Lily ringde och sa att hon blir lite sen.Lily called and said she'll be a bit late.
- Jag ska fika med Lily i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Lily this afternoon.
- Lilys mamma är lärare.Lily's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Lilys mamma is Lily's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Lily
How do you pronounce Lily in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Lily in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Lily mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from English, popular around 1900 and currently returning to favor. A 19th-century flower name, from lily. Also a diminutive of Lilian and sometimes Elizabeth.
How popular is Lily in Sweden?
195 babies were named Lily in 2022. In 2020, 2,855 people in Sweden had Lily as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2016 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.