Hollie
Masculine · “the holly tree”
Hollie is given to both — 1,453 boys and 18,453 girls since 1880. See Hollie as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Hollie is the British spelling and Holly the American one, and the split is unusually clean. British registers show the -ie form in large numbers and American ones show the -y form, with each country treating the other's as a variant. It is one of the few names where a spelling preference divides so neatly along a national line.
How old is the name Hollie?
Hollie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Hollie alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 400 people named Hollie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hollie most popular?
Hollie peaked in 1883, reaching #597 nationally. See the whole 1883 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From An Old English word for the evergreen shrub to Hollie
The story of Hollie
The plant comes in pairs in the tradition. Holly and ivy are set against each other in a whole family of medieval English carols, in which they argue about which should have the mastery in the hall, and the argument is always gendered: holly is the man, ivy is the woman, and the songs are by turns affectionate, competitive and rude. One of the oldest surviving English carols is exactly that debate. The pairing survives in the modern carol that names them both in its first line, where the competition has been smoothed away entirely and only the two plants remain. It is a small example of how much a tradition can lose while keeping its furniture.
Meaning
the holly tree
The English word for the evergreen shrub, used directly as a name from the nineteenth century onwards, and the reading is not in dispute. The -ie ending is an affectionate English spelling with no separate sense. The resemblance to the word holy is a coincidence: the two have different roots and different vowels historically.
How the name formed
- An Old English word for the evergreen shrub
- Paired with ivy in medieval English carols
- Taken as a personal name in the nineteenth century
- The -ie spelling settling in Britain and the -y in America
Pronouncing Hollie
HOL-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first, identical to the y spelling. The word holy has a long o and is a different word entirely, though the two are confused in writing constantly.
Nicknames for Hollie
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191940 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #597reached in 1883
- Change vs 1983
- −22.2%7 in 1987, from 9
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.
Hollies among us
people named Hollie are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Hollie sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Nobody will mispronounce it and the meaning needs no explaining.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- The spelling is standard somewhere in the world, which most respellings are not.
- In America it will be corrected to the y spelling constantly.
- It is strongly seasonal, and a child born in July will hear about it.
- It is closely tied to a stretch of the nineteen eighties in both countries.
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What they receive
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Hollie
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Hollies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Hollie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hollie in 2025?
- Hollie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Hollie with classmates?
- Hollie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Henry#5 · Harold#991 · Harry#775 · Howard#1002 · Hunter#130 · Herbert#2641 · Herman#2363 · Harvey#251
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hollie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hollie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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