Pollie
Feminine · “Unknown”
Polly is the name every parrot in English has. Not most parrots: the default one, the one used when no other has been supplied, in the way that a dog is Rover and a cat is Tiddles. Nobody wrote down why, and by the time anybody thought to ask, the convention was two centuries old.
How old is the name Pollie?
Pollie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Pollie alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. About 300 people named Pollie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pollie most popular?
Pollie peaked in 1885, reaching #608 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mary to Pollie
The story of Pollie
The parrot convention is genuinely undocumented. Polly appears attached to parrots in English print from the eighteenth century, is universal by the nineteenth, and no source explains the choice; the likeliest account is simply that it was a common, cheerful woman's name that suited a bird taught to talk. The name had a more dramatic moment in the same century. John Gay followed The Beggar's Opera with a sequel called Polly, and the government, which had recognized itself in the first play, had the second suppressed before it could open. It was printed instead, sold enormously by subscription and made its author more money banned than it would have made him staged, and it was not performed until nearly fifty years later, when everyone involved was dead.
Meaningnot established
Unknown
The name descends from Mary, whose own meaning has never been settled, by way of Molly. There are a dozen proposals for the Hebrew original and none has carried the field. What can be said with confidence is the chain of English short forms; what cannot is what the original meant, and books that state it flatly are choosing one guess.
How the name formed
- Mary
- Molly
- Polly
- Pollie
Pronouncing Pollie
POL-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a short first vowel, which the doubled l guarantees. The -ie and -y spellings are said identically and always have been.
Nicknames for Pollie
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 girls named
- 192033 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #608reached in 1885
- Change vs 1973
- 0.0%5 in 1987, from 5
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.
Pollies among us
people named Pollie 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
Pollie 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
- Short, cheerful and impossible to mispronounce, with nothing a small child cannot manage.
- It has a long documented history in English going back well before the records begin.
- The formal name behind it is available if a longer version is ever wanted.
- The parrot association is universal in English and a child will meet it early and often.
- Polly with a y is much commoner, so this spelling will be corrected on paperwork.
- It is a pet form on a certificate and leaves nothing more formal underneath.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Pollie
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Pollies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Pollie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pollie in 2025?
- Pollie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Pollie with classmates?
- Pollie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pollie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pollie and another name?
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Cast your vote
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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