Mollie
Feminine · “An English pet form of Mary”
Mollie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 48,164 girls against 46 boys since 1880.
Mollie is one of the old English pet forms of Mary, softened by rhyme somewhere in the medieval mouth and then given the friendly -ie ending that also sits on Katie and Sophie. It has been written down as a name in its own right for generations, long enough that it now reads as complete rather than as anyone's shortening. Two syllables, both easy, and no one has ever needed to be told how to say it.
How old is the name Mollie?
Mollie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mollie alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 24,000 people named Mollie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mollie most popular?
Mollie peaked in 1884, reaching #79 nationally. Today it ranks #1113, 1,034 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Mollie appears on these lists:
- One-decade wonders
- Scottish gems the US hasn't discovered
- Names that belong entirely to the 1880s
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From Miryam to Mollie
The story of Mollie
Mary arrived in English through Greek and Latin renderings of the Hebrew Miryam, and medieval English speakers did to it what they did to most common names: clipped it. Mary became Malle and Mally, and rhyming play turned Mally into Molly — the same habit that produced Polly from Molly and Bob from Rob. Molly was a familiar English and Irish name by the seventeenth century, standing on its own rather than hiding behind a baptismal Mary, and it crossed the Atlantic that way. The Mollie spelling followed the broad nineteenth-century fondness for ending affectionate names in -ie, and it has kept a foothold in both American and Scottish records ever since.
Meaningscholars disagree
An English pet form of Mary
The line back to Mary is settled; Mary's own meaning is not. The Hebrew Miryam has been read as 'bitterness', as 'beloved', and as coming from an Egyptian element meaning 'beloved' or 'love'. Serious scholars still disagree, and no reading has won.
How the name formed
- Miryam
- Maria
- Mary
- Molly
- Mollie
Related forms: Molly · Mary · Máire · Marie · María · Miriam
Pronouncing Mollie
MOL-ee
Stress on the first syllable. It rhymes with jolly, and the spelling gives no one trouble reading it aloud.
Nicknames for Mollie
High
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 girls named
- 1918701 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #79reached in 1884
- Change vs 2022
- +7.6%212 in 2025, from 197
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.
Mollie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Molly in English — spelling variant
- Mary in English — related form
- Máire in Irish — related form
- Marie in French — related form
- María in Spanish — related form
- Miriam in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York. International figures from National Records of Scotland. Sources
Mollies among us
people named Mollie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,581 born in 2025 was named Mollie
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Mollie 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 Mollie is headed
Mollie 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.
Mollie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mollie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Says itself on sight — nobody needs the pronunciation explained, in English or in most other languages.
- An unbroken written record as an independent name since long before American birth records began.
- Sits inside a whole family of formal alternatives — Mary, Maria, Marie, Miriam — if a longer version is ever wanted.
- Charts in Scotland as well as the United States, so it travels without translation.
- Short, two syllables, and pairs easily with both one-syllable and long surnames.
- Molly is the more common spelling by a wide margin, so Mollie will be quietly corrected on forms, name tags and coffee cups for life. Worth deciding now whether that bothers you.
- The name is still strongly represented among older generations, which means it may read as a grandmother's name to some ears and as a rediscovery to others.
- 'Molly' has been slang for MDMA for some years now. The -ie spelling puts a little distance between the two, and the slang is already fading, but it is fair to know it exists.
- Older English slang used 'moll' for a criminal's girlfriend. It is archaic enough that most people will never think of it, though it does make the shortest nickname the least useful one.
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What they receive
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Mollie
Feminine · #1113 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mollies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 24,000 people named Mollie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mollie in 2025?
- Mollie ranks #1113 among US girl names in 2025, with 212 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mollie?
- About 1 in every 7,581 US girls born in 2025 was named Mollie — 212 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mollie with classmates?
- Mollie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mollie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Betty#1113 · Leena#1113 · Clarissa#1113 · Erika#1109 · Ines#1109 · Kacey#1117 · Imogen#1117 · Icelynn#1109
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mollie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mollie 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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