How to say it
LIL · ith
/ˈlɪl.ɪθ/
Feminine
Lilith
Of the night
What it means
From a class of Mesopotamian night spirits (Akkadian lilitu). In later Jewish folklore, the name of Adam's independent first wife.
Lilith goes back to the lilitu, night spirits of ancient Mesopotamian belief, and surfaces once in the Hebrew Bible as a creature of the wilderness. Medieval Jewish folklore reimagined her as Adam's first wife, made from the same earth as him and unwilling to be subordinate, who left Eden on her own terms. That backstory made her a feminist symbol in the 20th century, from Lilith magazine to the Lilith Fair festival. It is a bold, witchy pick that carries real mythological weight.
Popularity over time
peaked at #232 in 2023, currently #277 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Worth knowing
The demon-and-defiant-first-wife folklore is the dominant association; some parents embrace the independent-woman symbolism, others find it too dark.
- Pop culture
Lilith Fair (the 1990s women's music festival) and Frasier's Lilith Sternin are the lighter modern reference points.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Lilith Adam's first wife in medieval Jewish folklore
- Lilith Sternin Frasier's coolly clinical ex-wife on Cheers and Frasier
Spelling variants
- Lillith
Names with the same feeling
See Lilith from another angle
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