Holland
Feminine · “most likely "wood land”
Holland is given to both — 7,835 girls and 3,172 boys since 1880. See Holland as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Holland is a place before it is a person: a low, watery corner of the Netherlands whose name the Dutch have carried since the Middle Ages, and also two older English districts, in Lincolnshire and Lancashire, that gave the surname to families centuries ago. Said aloud it lands in two easy beats, HAH-luhnd, with the same warm opening syllable as Holly — which is exactly what it gets shortened to.
How old is the name Holland?
Holland first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Holland is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 7,800 people named Holland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Holland most popular?
Holland peaked in 2025, reaching #549 nationally. Today it ranks #549, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Holland appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Middle Dutch holtland to Holland
The story of Holland
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. Like Sutton, Preston or Kirkland, that surname crossed into American use as a first name in the long nineteenth- and twentieth-century habit of promoting family names to given ones. It sat quietly on American records for generations before the recent, steep climb it is in now.
Meaningscholars disagree
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.
How the name formed
- Middle Dutch holtland
- Hollant
- Holland
Related forms: Holland · Hollande · Holanda · Olanda
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Holland
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 2025550 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #549reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +10.2%550 in 2025, from 499
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Holland in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Holland in Dutch — same name
- Hollande in French — related form
- Holanda in Spanish — related form
- Olanda in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Utah, California.
Hollands among us
people named Holland are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,922 born in 2025 was named Holland
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sammie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Holland's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sammie climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sammie's path sketches the road Holland is walking now.
Holland is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Holland is headed
Holland should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Holland beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Holland in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- A documented history of several centuries as a Dutch region and an English surname, well behind the recent fashion for it.
- 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.
- Holly is such a natural shortening that it may end up doing most of the daily work — fine if you like it, worth a thought if you do not.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Holland to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Holland
Feminine · #549 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hollands are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,800 people named Holland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Holland in 2025?
- Holland ranks #549 among US girl names in 2025, with 550 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Holland?
- About 1 in every 2,922 US girls born in 2025 was named Holland — 550 in all.
- Will my child share the name Holland with classmates?
- Holland will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Holland
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danielle#549 · Frankie#551 · Fernanda#551 · Kyomi#546 · Angel#546 · Capri#546 · Emerie#553 · Everlee#545
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Holland? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Holland and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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