ninan.org

Holly

Girls' name · Late 20th-century

Living in the US
~193,400 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#416 among girls
Births in 2025
751 206,845 since 1880
Typical age
45 years, median

Holly popularity over time

Holly rank by birth year, 1893–2025Holly ranked #1,091 in 1893 and #416 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #48, in 1979.#100#1,000#416best #48 in 19791920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1893–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1983: 6,415 births recorded as Holly. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. It has held a top-100 place in 23 separate years.

In 2025 it ranked #416 with 751 births.

Babies named Holly per yearPeaks at 6,415 births in 1983.6,415 in 1983018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Holly?

Roughly 193,400 Hollys are alive in the US right now. That is out of 206,845 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Holly?

Half of living Hollys are older than 45, half younger. The 1980s produced the largest surviving cohort. By the site’s era rules that makes Holly a late 20th-century name.

Your Holly

Ages of living people named HollyHalf of living Hollys are older than 45 and half younger.median 45020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Holly is most common

The name is concentrated in Idaho, at 2.5× the national rate. Montana, Kansas and New Hampshire follow.

Where Holly is used more than average5 states use the name Holly more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: 1.9× the national rateNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: 2.5× the national rateIDMontana: 2.4× the national rateMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: 1.9× the national rateCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: 2.1× the national rateKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Holly is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Idaho 71 2.5×
Montana 29 2.4×
Kansas 105 2.1×
New Hampshire 29 1.9×
Colorado 174 1.9×

Is Holly a boy's or a girl's name?

99% girls1% boys
Share of all recorded US births under this name, 1880 to the latest year.

Across the whole record, 99.3% of births under the name were girls. The name has changed sides: it began mostly on one sex and ends mostly on the other.

Holly in England and Wales

ONS recorded 285 births named Holly in 2025, ranking it #169. That is 56% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Holly comes from

+ (name) * As an Irish surname, calque of mac cuilinn (“holly”) (see McCullen) and sometimes McQuillan. As an English surname, variant of Holley. As a Czech and Slovak surname, variant of Holý, Holy. Also as a locational English surname, from Old English hol leah (“wood, clearing, meadow”), compare Hollywood. Also as an English surname, short form of Holiday. Also as an English surname, after the holly tree. As a feminine given name popularized by Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (especially the 1961 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn).

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Holly

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Holly Hunter American actress 1958 74
Holly Marie Combs American actress 1973 49
Holly Madison American television personality 1979 37
Holly Valance Australian actress and singer 1983 33
Holly Black American children's fiction writer 1971 30
Holly Holm American boxer and mixed martial artist 1981 26
Holly Bradshaw British pole vaulter 1991 25
Holly Sampson American actress and pornographic performer 1973 20
Photo credits (8)

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Holly

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Holly was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/holly.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).