Given name & surname
Ly
“a reasonable man”
Ly is used as a given name and a surname. One Vietnamese interpretation is “a reasonable man.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Vietnamese interpretation is “a reasonable man.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Vietnamese.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1973. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In English use, Ly is a variant of Lee. The history of Lee gives this family its wider story. Lee’s naming history includes the use of a family name as a given name.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Ly through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 399
- 119 boys · 280 girls
- Most popular year
- 1984
- 32 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 8 in 2008. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 24 in 1984. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 4,610 as a first name in 2020; 33,559 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Ly’s family of names
In English usage, Ly as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with Lee. In French usage, Ly as a surname was borrowed from the Vietnamese form Lý. In English usage, Ly has a related form in Lee.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Ly
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Ly, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Thi
“one who inspires poetry”
13% boys · 87% girls
Hien
“a meek and gentle woman” · “a gentle and kind man”
48% boys · 52% girls
Diep
Diep is a surname from Vietnamese.
22% boys · 78% girls
Tuyen
“an angel” · “a heavenly messenger”
14% boys · 86% girls
Hong
“a young girl with a rosy complexion” · “refers to the color red”
31% boys · 69% girls
Thao
“one who is respectful of her parents” · “one who is courteous”
16% boys · 84% girls
Xuan
“born in the spring” · “born during the spring”
9% boys · 91% girls
Quyen
Quyen is a surname from Vietnamese. It is used in French.
11% boys · 89% girls