Lily and Violet are in full bloom. How would this botanical choice wear?
Thanks to Racheli for suggesting Lilac as our Baby Name of the Day.
The word lilac has been used for the plant since the seventeenth century, and even longer in French and Spanish. It came to us from the Perisan lilak – originally nilak – via Spain. Nil means indigo or dark blue.
I hear you saying: “Wait! Lilacs aren’t blue. They’re purple!” Perhaps this would be a good moment for a peek at the many varieties of lilac. They do come in a pale purple shade, but they’re also white, yellow, pink, even burgundy. Still, we’ve been using lilac to refer to a specific color for over two hundred years, so the confusion is warranted.
The color puts this name possibility in the same category as stylish Scarlett and Ruby, as well as more daring picks like Indigo, Saffron, and Lavender.
While she’s never cracked the US Top 1000, she has some history of use. A dozen girls received the name in 2010, and Elea has noted that Lilac appears in Edwardian England, along with other unexpected botanicals like Daffodil and Orchid.
Today, Lilac sounds like a name. Much like Marigold and Magnolia strike us as similar to the enduring Margaret, Lilac sounds like some of the most fashionable choices of the day:
- Lily (#17 in 2010), plus Lillian (#21) and Lilly (#107), as well as many other variants;
- Lyla (#134), Lila (#155) and Lilah (#331);
- Delilah (#187).
Lilac has also been used over the years for a train line in Japan and a nineteenth century US Navy tugboat. There’s the Thai Lilac cat and a bird known as the Lilac-breasted Roller.
I thought I’d spotted a celebrity Lilac, the daughter of model Kirsty Hume and model/actor/rocker Donovan Leitch, the son of 60s icon Donovan. In several places, their daughter is called Lilac Jean, including fairly recent photos. But in Hume’s most recent publicity, their daughter is definitely named Violet. What gives? Did the couple realize that Lilac Leitch was not the best first-last pairing? It may be that Lilac was an affectionate nickname.
We wouldn’t be surprised to hear that, say, Violet and Seraphina’s little sis was called Lilac. It sounds celeb-ready.
A few other associations for the plant:
- In the Victorian language of flowers, lilac symbolizes beauty and pride, or the first emotions of love;
- “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” is a poem by Walt Whitman, an elegy for the late President Abraham Lincoln;
- Lilacs bloom in the spring, and are associated with Easter.
If you’re looking for something modern and tailored but still romantic and feminine, Lilac is a safe bet. She’s easy to spell and pronounce, plus relatively few words sound like Lilac. I suppose your daughter might be confused with all those little Lilys – but betcha she stands out amongst the garden of girls instead.
Lilac is one of my favorite flowers, but it’s not one of my favorite names. I think it’s the “-c” ending. The only other girl’s name I can think of that ends in a “-c” is actually unisex (Lyric), the rest of the names with that sound are decidedly masculine.
I love the thought of Lilac as a name-it is, in fact, my all-time favorite flower. The ending seems to throw some people off, though. I have only seen lilacs in, well, their purplish shade and in white. The ones growing in my grandma’s yard, the ones I grew up with, are the short-lived, and therefore more precious, purplish old-fashioned lilacs. I would totally use it.
Awww, Lilac was the name of my first bicycle! She was a rich purple color, hence the name. For a while there in grade three I rode her to school after having first learnt to forgo those training wheels. Obviously, I wouldn’t use the name now myself for a child (“my mum named me after her bicycle!”), but I’d love to hear it on other people’s children.
Incidentally, growing up I was taught that Indigo was a shade of purple, not blue. A quick peek at wikipedia tells me that my information wasn’t entirely wrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo.
I really like this name, I’m surprised its not more popular. I definitely prefer it over Violet and Ruby.
Overall I think nature names are a great thing.
I caught an old episode of The Simple Life on cable, not normally something I would watch, except for the fact that Richie and Hilton met 2 brothers named Sky and Zephyr and I was amazed to see someone share my name haha 😀
Lilac is gorgeous, and she’s BOTH a color and a flower. Like pp have mentioned, why isn’t she more popular? I would venture a guess that parents seeking botanical names are probably looking for something less tailored and more feminissa than Lilac. Also, her -ac ending seems unusual to me and probably keeps those away who want to remain on the proverbial beaten name path.
love love love love love love
I was going to mention Stephen Moyer too.
I Love Lilac. It’s such a beautiful and underused flower name. Lavender is great too.
I hope it never approaches the trendiness of Violet as Violet already feels overused & up there with perennial middle name Rose.
Actor Stephen Moyer (True Blood) has a 10 year old daughter named Lilac.
I like Lilac, Lila, Layla, Laylie and Lily, as well as a host of other flower and color names. I am too, baffled, that Lilac and Lavender aren’t more popular.
Lilach is not only the Hebrew word for the flower lilac, but it also means “you are mine” — this comes to mind whenever there’s any talk of using Lilac as a name. I love this meaning, I just wish I liked the sound more.
I think this is a stunningly pretty name, and can’t understand why it’s not used more often. As you say, it fits in so well with other name trends.
I think it makes a great middle name actually, and wonder if it’s used more often in that capacity? When do we get data on middle names???!
The actress Jessie Wallace has a daughter named Tallulah Lilac — way too much /L/ for my liking.