Fun Facts About the Name Lilac
- 370 babies named Lilac: U.S. records list 370 babies given the name Lilac from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Lilac Mean?
Lilac is a flower name, taken from the lilac shrub (Syringa vulgaris) and its pale purple blossoms. The English word came through French lilas, from Spanish or Portuguese lilac, from Arabic līlak, and ultimately from Persian nīlak, a diminutive of nīl, meaning "indigo." The Persian source therefore means "bluish," a description of the flower's color rather than a statement about a person.
The name has no separate root of its own: it is the plant word used as a personal name. Its literal sense is the shrub and its color, not a virtue or a religious phrase.
Lilac Name History & Origins
The lilac shrub is native to southeastern Europe, in the Balkans, and reached western European gardens by way of Ottoman horticulture in the sixteenth century. The word for it spread with the plant. English took up lilac in the early seventeenth century from French lilas; the same Persian source had already passed through Arabic into Spanish and Portuguese before reaching French.
As a given name, Lilac belongs to the group of English flower names that includes Rose, Violet, Lily, and Daisy, most of which became established as personal names in the nineteenth century. Lilac has stayed far less common than those names and is given mainly to girls. Its use as a personal name is a modern development of the plant word, not an older name that later came to mean a flower.
The color term "lilac," for a pale purple, is recorded in English later than the plant name and is derived from the flower. In the nineteenth-century language of flowers, lilac was assigned symbolic meanings such as first love or youthful innocence, but these are later decorative associations, not part of the word's etymology.
How Popular is the Name Lilac?
Lilac has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2024. Its best rank was #3,603 in 2024.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #4,131 | 35 | 0.0022% |
| 2024 | #3,603 | 43 | 0.0027% |
| 2023 | #5,197 | 25 | 0.0016% |
| 2022 | #5,738 | 22 | 0.0013% |
| 2021 | #5,176 | 25 | 0.0015% |
| 2020 | #5,255 | 24 | 0.0015% |
| 2019 | #7,560 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2018 | #5,258 | 25 | 0.0015% |
| 2017 | #7,281 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2016 | #7,091 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 2015 | #8,728 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2014 | #10,601 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2013 | #11,557 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2012 | #10,128 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2011 | #11,759 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2010 | #9,556 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2009 | #10,372 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2008 | #19,270 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2007 | #9,914 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 2006 | #13,082 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2003 | #17,265 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1996 | #11,278 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1995 | #12,671 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1979 | #11,158 | 5 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Lilac Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You always bring to completion anything you start. You are generous but like to see returns from your giving. You have an executive ability, you are a leader. You are moral, balanced, honest and intellectual, and you may attain spirituality. You are wise and practical with an appreciation of beauty. You always think before you act. You are intuitive and might be interested in the arts, drama or science.
You are always looking for a chance to do your own thing, to be your own person, and to have things done your own way.
✦ Lilac's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Lilac's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.