Lilian
Meaning of Lilian
Lilian—pronounced LIL-ee-ən—springs from the Latin lilium, the lily, a blossom that Western art has long employed as a quiet herald of purity and resilience; medieval scribes first pressed the flower into ink as a given name, and the ever-symbol-minded Victorians wafted it across the Atlantic, where it settled comfortably into parish registers and parlor conversation alike. Though her double-n cousin “Lillian” often claims the billboard, the sparely spelled Lilian has held her ground with understated poise, hovering in the mid-hundreds of the U.S. popularity charts for more than a century—proof that a name needn’t shout to be heard. Literary echoes sound from Tennyson’s gentle heroines, while real-world heft arrives courtesy of Lilian Gilbreth, the industrial-engineering trailblazer who juggled efficiency studies and a dozen children with disarming composure. Botanical without being overly perfumed, classic without creaking, Lilian offers parents a quietly luminous choice—one that, like the lily itself, manages to stand tall by simply opening up to the light.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as lil-ee-uhn (/ˈlɪliən/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Lilian
| Lilian Garcia - Lilián Annette Garcia is an American ring announcer, singer, and podcaster who announces for WWE special events and the Professional Fighters League. |
| Lilian Bland was an Anglo-Irish journalist and pioneering aviator who designed, built, and flew the Bland Mayfly in 1910–11, making her one of the first women to achieve this feat. |
| Lilian Mary Baylis was an English theatrical producer who managed London's Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres and founded companies that evolved into the English National Opera, English National Theatre, and The Royal Ballet. |
| Lilian Jeannette Rice was an eco-conscious early 20th-century American architect celebrated for her California Spanish Colonial Revival designs, several of which are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. |
| Lilian Jackson Braun was an American author famed for her "The Cat Who..." mystery series featuring journalist Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, inspired by Michigan settings. |
| British-born Lilian Violet Cooper was the first woman medical doctor registered in Queensland, Australia. |
| Australian suffragette and children's book author Lilian Staple Mead was the only female student ever educated at Adelaide's Prince Alfred College. |
| Lilian Harmel was an Austrian dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue. |
| Lilian Rachel Greenwood is a British Labour MP for Nottingham South, serving since 2010, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Local Transport since September 2025. |
| Lilian Adelaide Lancaster was a British teacher and artist who studied under Walter Sickert. |
| Lilian Bader was among the first mixed-race women to enlist in the British armed forces. |
| Lilian Brandt was an American author and social reformer known for her statistical work in social welfare and her role at the Russell Sage Foundation. |
| Lilian Hamilton Jeffery - Anne Jeffery was a British archaeologist who established the chronology of archaic Greek inscriptions through her 1961 study of the alphabet's development. |
| Filipina actress and singer Lilian Cananea Velez-Clímaco was murdered in 1948 by fellow actor Narding Anzures, an event that received extensive media attention in post-war Philippines. |
| Lilian Gonshaw Katz is a professor emerita who advocates for project-based learning in early childhood education. |
