Head to head · Girls' names
Hadassah vs Holland
#569 vs #549 in 2025
Holland is a whisker ahead (#549 vs #569 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Holland is climbing the charts fast, Hadassah is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Hadassah and Holland each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Hadassah #3797, Holland #4809 — Hadassah higher
- 1920s: Hadassah #4592, Holland — — Hadassah higher
- 1930s: Hadassah #3956, Holland — — Hadassah higher
- 1940s: Hadassah #4229, Holland — — Hadassah higher
- 1950s: Hadassah #5020, Holland #5301 — Hadassah higher
- 1960s: Hadassah #6396, Holland #6171 — Holland higher
- 1970s: Hadassah #5084, Holland #5520 — Hadassah higher
- 1980s: Hadassah #3945, Holland #2630 — Holland higher
- 1990s: Hadassah #2675, Holland #2233 — Holland higher
- 2000s: Hadassah #1549, Holland #1782 — Hadassah higher
- 2010s: Hadassah #739, Holland #1078 — Hadassah higher
- 2020s: Hadassah #613, Holland #611 — Holland higher
Hadassah stood higher in 8 of 12 decades; Holland took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Hadassah | Holland |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #3797 | #4809 |
| 1920s | #4592 | — |
| 1930s | #3956 | — |
| 1940s | #4229 | — |
| 1950s | #5020 | #5301 |
| 1960s | #6396 | #6171 |
| 1970s | #5084 | #5520 |
| 1980s | #3945 | #2630 |
| 1990s | #2675 | #2233 |
| 2000s | #1549 | #1782 |
| 2010s | #739 | #1078 |
| 2020s | #613 | #611 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Hadassah
Myrtle (the tree)
From Hebrew hadas, the myrtle — one of the four species carried at Sukkot.
hadas (Hebrew, myrtle) → Hadassah → Edissa (Latin Vulgate)
How it traveled
The name appears once in the Hebrew Bible, in Esther 2:7, where the heroine is introduced by her Hebrew name Hadassah before the Persian court name Esther takes over the story. Latin tradition carried the verse forward as Edissa in the Vulgate, while Hebrew and Yiddish speakers kept Hadassah in living use as a given name.
Holland
most likely "wood land"
The Dutch Holland is generally traced to Middle Dutch holtland, "wood land" — holt, wood, plus land. A rival reading, "hollow land," is widely repeated and fits the flat, drained landscape, but philologists give it less weight. The English Holland, in Lincolnshire and Lancashire, is a separate formation, usually read as land by a hill-spur or ridge. So the name carries at least two honest answers depending on which Holland you mean.
Middle Dutch holtland → Hollant → Holland
How it traveled
Both roads to this name start with ground. The Dutch county of Holland gave its name to the region, then loosely to the whole country, and eventually to ships, tunnels and trading houses named for it; in England, villages called Holland and Upholland produced a surname carried by families from the medieval period onward.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Hadassah
huh-DAH-suh
Hebrew speakers place a fuller stress on the last syllable: hah-dah-SAH. American English usually settles on the middle syllable, and some families say HAD-uh-suh. All three are in genuine use, so it is worth deciding early which one you will correct people toward.
- Dassi — An informal short form used in Orthodox Jewish communities.
- Hadas — A standalone given name in Israel as well as a short form of the longer name.
- Dassah — Informal, clipped from the second half of the name.
- Hattie — An English-sounding nickname borrowed from the sound of the first syllables; also a given name in its own right.
Holland
HAH-luhnd
Stress on the first syllable. English speakers rarely hesitate, because the place name is already familiar; the Dutch say it closer to HOL-lahnt.
- Holly — The everyday short form, and a long-established given name in its own right for girls.
- Holl — Clipped, informal, used within families and among friends; works for a boy or a girl.
- Hollie — Spelling variant of the short form, more often seen on girls.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Hadassah if you want…
- a name fewer children share#569 in 2025 — hadassah will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name holding steadyHadassah is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itHadassah runs 3 syllables, Holland 2
Choose Holland if you want…
- a name most people already know#549 in 2025, 550 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 158 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesHolland is 2 syllables to Hadassah's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Hadassah
Strengths
- A settled, documented meaning — the myrtle — with a single clear biblical source in Esther 2:7, so the answer never changes.
- Recognizable in Hebrew, English, Spanish and French with only small spelling shifts.
- Several real short forms already in use: Dassi, Hadas, Dassah.
To consider
- The spelling will need repeating: two s's, an h at each end, and no obvious phonetic cue for the final -ah. Most people get there on the second try.
- For many American adults the first association is the women's Zionist organization and the Jerusalem hospital that bears the name, rather than a child.
- Stress placement varies between Hebrew and English usage, so she will hear her name said a few different ways before she learns which correction is worth making.
Holland
Strengths
- A spelling nobody has to be taught — the place name is known worldwide, so it is spelled right on the first try far more often than most rising names.
- Comes with a ready-made short form, Holly, that already stands on its own as a given name.
- One name, not two: it reaches boys and girls by the same route, as a place and surname, so neither side is a borrowing from the other.
To consider
- It reads as a country, and people will sometimes assume Dutch heritage or ask about it. Worth deciding in advance whether that is a pleasant conversation or a tiresome one.
- Boys named Holland are the real minority here. A boy will meet the occasional assumption that the name is a girl's, and will more often hear the surname reading first.
- It is climbing quickly. A Holland starting school now will almost certainly be the only one, but the name will likely feel more familiar by the time she or he is grown.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Hadassah and Holland in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Hadassah and Holland?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Eight-letter names with presence
- Borrowed from the boys: names girls are winning
- Place names on the map and the birth certificate
- all guides
Where Hadassah and Holland each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Hadassah or Holland — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Hadassah or Holland?
- Holland, in 2025: Holland ranked #549 with 550 babies; Hadassah ranked #569 with 529 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Hadassah or Holland?
- Holland. Over the last five years Hadassah moved up 100 places; Holland moved up 158 places.
- Which is the older name, Hadassah or Holland?
- Hadassah entered the US charts in 1910; Holland entered the US charts in 1918. On the American record, Hadassah is the older name.
- How many people are named Hadassah and Holland?
- About 9,200 people named Hadassah are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 7,800 people named Holland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Hadassahs or Hollands in the classroom?
- Hadassah will almost certainly be the only one in school. Holland will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Hadassah, Holland and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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