A compound name uniting Lily, the flower symbolising purity and innocence, with May, evoking the freshness and beauty of late spring.
Lily-May is a girl's name of English origin, pairing Lily — a floral name with deep roots in English and Victorian naming traditions, symbolising purity — with May, one of the oldest month names used as a given name in English. Both names were common in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, and their combination as a hyphenated compound reflects the 21st-century British taste for double names that feel nostalgic yet fresh.
Lily has ranked among the most popular girls' names in England for years, beloved for its natural beauty and simplicity. May carries its own long history as both a month name and a diminutive of Mary or Margaret. Lily-May fuses both traditions into a name that feels quintessentially English — light, floral, and pretty.
Gentle, creative, and bright — Lily-May tends to be nurturing and cheerful, a person who brings a natural sweetness to every interaction without sacrificing her own strong sense of self.
Lily-May has charted at #237 in England and Wales, #465 in Ireland, and #1846 in Canada, making it one of the more popular hyphenated compound names in the UK.
Lily-May means 'pure beauty of spring,' drawing on the lily's symbolism of innocence and purity and May's association with the loveliest month of the year.
Lily-May has ranked as high as #237 in England and Wales, making it one of the most popular double-barrelled names in the country.
They all have the same sound and meaning — the variation is in how the second element is spelled. Lily-May is the most traditional English spelling, Lily-Mae has a slightly vintage American feel, and Lily-Mai offers a more unusual, continental look.
Lily-May is made up of two short, phonetically straightforward words that most children find manageable to learn. The hyphen is the only tricky part.
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