Ly

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Glass

Ly has been given to 399 babies in the U.S. since 1973. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1984, with 24 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 70% girls, 30% boys all-time.

Babies named Ly, 2008

1 in 491,000

Ly over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Ly over time

In 2008, Ly went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19732008

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Ly: meaning, origin, and history

Glass

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ly means

Ly means “glass”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Ly is used in Vietnamese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /li˧˧/ and /lɪj˧˧/ for Ly.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 280 girls were recorded with the name Ly between 1973 and 2008. Its highest annual count was 24 in 1984; its best national rank was #3,476 in 1984.

In the United States, 119 boys were recorded with the name Ly between 1978 and 2006. Its highest annual count was 13 in 1983; its best national rank was #3,346 in 1983.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Ly?

Ly had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2008, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2008
1 in 491,000
8 of 3,930,727 births
Among girls only
1 in 236,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2008
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
340,573 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ly sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2008 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 340,573 children born in 2008 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ly. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Lys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ly was born before 1987 — so the typical Ly is around 38 today.

Median birth year
1987
About 38 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
52.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
64.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
280
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 52.5% of all recorded uses (147).

Is Ly rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1984 (24)
Years since peak
41
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,476
1984

Where Ly is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Ly was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 363,927 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Ly has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Ly is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Ly was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,340,977 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Ly has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Ly around the world

Where Ly ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • France
    1976–2021
    #7,558
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1979–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Ly by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,476
1984
Peak year
1984
24 that year
First recorded
1973
Last recorded
2008
All-time count
280
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,346
1983
Peak year
1983
13 that year
First recorded
1978
Last recorded
2006
All-time count
119
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ly

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Sibling names for Ly

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Ly