Holding steady.
Popularity of Trilby since 1895
Babies named Trilby per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1925, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Trilby's real moment was 1895.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 18 |
| 1900s | 0 |
| 1910s | 55 |
| 1920s | 116 |
| 1930s | 99 |
| 1940s | 56 |
| 1950s | 89 |
| 1960s | 42 |
| 1970s | 39 |
| 1980s | 27 |
| 1990s | 13 |
| 2000s | 7 |
| 2010s | 6 |
| 2020s | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Trilby first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1895, the same year it peaked in usage, reflecting the immediate impact of George du Maurier's novel 'Trilby', published the year before. Despite its literary fame, the name never entered the top 1,000 and remains an exceedingly rare choice, with a stable trajectory over the last century. The name's one-in-N birth rate is negligible, and no top states registered significant use. Trilby's brief moment of fashion illustrates how a single influential work can produce a short-lived naming trend, even for a name that never achieved broad popularity.
Trilby was introduced as a given name through George du Maurier's 1894 novel 'Trilby', which became a sensational bestseller and was adapted into a stage play. The novel's heroine, Trilby O'Ferrall, was a young model and singer in Paris. The name may have been invented by du Maurier, possibly derived from the musical term 'trill' or as a variant of the obscure surname Tilby. The novel's popularity led to a brief vogue for the name in English-speaking countries, particularly in the late 1890s.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Trill, Bee
Sibling names for Trilby
Names that share Trilby's style, for a brother or sister.
