Lillian
"lillian" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Lillian” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #20,693 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #20,693
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A female given name from Latin, of American usage; variant form Lilian (UK).
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Lillian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #20,693 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Lillian” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Lillian is 7 letters long, classified as a proper noun. Corpus data places it at rank #20,693 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A female given name from Latin, of American usage; variant form Lilian (UK).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Lillian, with forms such as "illlian", "lililan", and "lillain". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Lilian", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Used since the sixteenth century, possibly originally a pet form of Elizabeth, but generally accepted as a variant of Late Latin lilium (“lily”). The correct English form is Lillian, spelled L-I-L-L-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1A female given name from Latin, of American usage; variant form Lilian (UK).
Etymology
Used since the sixteenth century, possibly originally a pet form of Elizabeth, but generally accepted as a variant of Late Latin lilium (“lily”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: illlian,lililan,lillain,lilliann,lillina,llilian,llillian
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Lillian - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Lillian"?
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Using “Lillian”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-I-L-L-I-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “Lilian” - see the side-by-side comparison. Lillian vs Lilian
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.