Holly
Feminine · “the holly tree”
Holly is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 205,304 girls against 1,541 boys since 1880. See Holly as a boy name
Holly is the plant, and the plant was brought indoors at midwinter long before there was a Christmas to bring it into. Evergreens in a dark month are a solution to an obvious problem, and northern Europe had been using them for that purpose for a very long time before the church arrived and absorbed the practice rather than arguing with it.
How old is the name Holly?
Holly first appears in US birth records in 1893 — 132 years ago. The typical Holly alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 193,000 people named Holly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Holly most popular?
Holly peaked in 1979, reaching #48 nationally. Today it ranks #416, 368 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Where it comes from
From An Old English word for the evergreen shrub to Holly
The story of Holly
The plant's midwinter role is older than the festival attached to it. An evergreen that fruits in December is genuinely remarkable in a northern climate, and cutting it and bringing it inside is the kind of practice that arises independently wherever the conditions are the same. The church's approach to such customs was generally to absorb rather than suppress them, and by the medieval period the plant had acquired a full set of Christian associations that it had not previously had. As a personal name it is much younger: it appears in the nineteenth century with the other botanical names and does not become common until well into the twentieth. The place in California, incidentally, is not named for it. The origin of that name is disputed, and none of the competing accounts involves this plant.
Meaning
the holly tree
The English word for the evergreen shrub with spined leaves and red berries, used directly as a name from the nineteenth century onwards. The reading is not in dispute. The word itself is old English and has no connection to the word holy, despite the resemblance and despite a great deal of folk explanation to the contrary; the two have different vowels historically and different roots.
How the name formed
- An Old English word for the evergreen shrub
- Brought indoors at midwinter before Christmas existed
- Taken as a personal name in the nineteenth century
- In common American use through the twentieth
Pronouncing Holly
HOL-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first, said exactly as the plant. It is not the word holy, which has a long o; the two are distinct in every English accent and are constantly confused in writing anyway.
Nicknames for Holly
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
- 1893
- Most girls named
- 19855,602 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #48reached in 1979
- Change vs 2022
- +8.4%751 in 2025, from 693
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.
Holly in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. International figures from National Records of Scotland. Sources
Hollys among us
people named Holly are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,140 born in 2025 was named Holly
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 Sherry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Holly's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sherry climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sherry's path sketches the road Holly is walking now.
Holly sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Holly is headed
Holly should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Holly beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Holly in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Nobody will ever mispronounce it or need it spelled twice.
- The meaning is concrete, seasonal and pleasant, and can be explained in a sentence.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- It is strongly seasonal, and a child born in July will hear about it.
- It is confused in writing with the word holy, which is a different word entirely.
- It reads as belonging to a particular late-twentieth-century moment in American naming.
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What they receive
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Holly
Feminine · #416 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hollys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 193,000 people named Holly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Holly in 2025?
- Holly ranks #416 among US girl names in 2025, with 751 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Holly?
- About 1 in every 2,140 US girls born in 2025 was named Holly — 751 in all.
- Will my child share the name Holly with classmates?
- Holly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Holly
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Finley#415 · Charlee#417 · Nalani#414 · Harley#418 · Laila#413 · Joy#419 · Melissa#419 · Alayah#412
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Holly? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Holly and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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