Variant of Lilith, from Hebrew/Assyrian meaning "of the night," a figure in ancient mythology.
This spelling variant of Lilith takes one of mythology's most ancient and fascinating feminine names and cloaks it in a subtly different visual form — the doubled *l* lending it a slightly softer appearance while preserving all the name's mythological depth. The original Lilith derives from the Akkadian *lilitu*, a term for storm spirits or wind demons, and appears in ancient Mesopotamian texts thousands of years before the common era. The Hebrew Bible references a mysterious night creature, *lilit*, in the book of Isaiah, and medieval Jewish folklore transformed this into Adam's defiant first wife — a woman who refused subordination and departed Eden of her own will.
This mythological Lilith became one of history's most complex feminine archetypes: a symbol of dangerous independence in traditions that feared her, and a proto-feminist icon in modern retellings. She appears in Dante's *Inferno*, in Keats's *La Belle Dame sans Merci* by allusion, and most explicitly in Goethe's *Faust*. The Pre-Raphaelite painters were entranced by her, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting *Lady Lilith* (1866–1868) cemented her image as hauntingly beautiful and self-possessed.
Modern parents who choose Lillith are typically drawn to its mythological weight and its feminine strength. The name surged alongside a broader cultural reclamation of Lilith as a symbol of autonomy, accelerated by the Lilith Fair music festival of the late 1990s. The Lillith spelling softens the first impression slightly while keeping all the resonance, making it a nuanced choice that balances myth with musicality.
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