Lilja is a Swedish and Finnish surname, meaning lily in both Swedish, Icelandic and Finnish.

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 58.1% of all known bearers of the surname Lilja were residents of Sweden (frequency 1:1,643), 22.9% of Finland (1:2,324), 11.5% of the United States (1:305,627), 3.0% of Denmark (1:18,091) and 1.0% of Norway (1:51,943).

In Sweden, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:1,643) in the following counties:

• 1. Blekinge County (1:733)
• 2. Jönköping County (1:1,003)
• 3. Östergötland County (1:1,006)
• 4. Örebro County (1:1,308)
• 5. Skåne County (1:1,315)
• 6. Västmanland County (1:1,337)
• 7. Kalmar County (1:1,351)
• 8. Kronoberg County (1:1,357)
• 9. Gotland County (1:1,426)

In Finland, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:2,324) in the following regions:^[1]

• 1. Satakunta (1:1,051)
• 2. Tavastia Proper (1:1,238)
• 3. Päijänne Tavastia (1:1,402)
• 4. Lapland (1:1,635)
• 5. Uusimaa (1:1,772)

People

• Ann-Charlotte Lilja (born 1946), Swedish swimmer
• Lars Lilja (born 1954), Swedish social democratic politician
• Liisa Lilja (born 1992), Finnish paratriathlete
• Lisa Lilja (born 1996), Swedish sprinter
• Efva Lilja (born 1956), Swedish artist and professor of choreography
• Karl-Erik Lilja (born 1957), retired Swedish ice hockey player
• George Lilja (born 1958), American football offensive lineman
• James Lilja (born 1966), American gynecologic oncologist and musician
• Arto Lilja (born 1973), Finnish ski-orienteering competitor
• Max Lilja (born 1975), Finnish cello player
• Niklas Lilja, race driver and factory test driver
• Arto Lilja (born 1973), Finnish ski-orienteering competitor
• Andreas Lilja (born 1975), Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman
• Ryan Lilja (born 1981), American football center and guard
• Jakob Lilja (born 1993), Swedish ice hockey player
• Kim Lilja (born 1994), Swedish ice hockey player

References