Polly
Feminine · “bitter”
Polly is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 29,684 girls against 24 boys since 1880.
Polly is Mary at two removes, by way of a rhyme. Mary became Molly by consonant substitution, and Molly became Polly by the same rhyming habit that gave Peggy from Meg and Bob from Rob.
How old is the name Polly?
Polly was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Polly alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 17,000 people named Polly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Polly most popular?
Polly peaked in 1881, reaching #222 nationally. Today it ranks #2298, 2,076 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Miryam to Polly
The story of Polly
Mary was so overwhelmingly common in English that households needed ways to tell one bearer from another, and English produced Molly by softening the r to an l and Polly by then rhyming the m to a p — exactly as it produced Peg from Meg. Both became names in their own right by the eighteenth century, and Polly peaked in American records around 1880 with a smaller revival in the 1970s.
Meaningscholars disagree
bitter; beloved; sea
Through Mary, from the Hebrew Miryam, whose meaning is among the most argued-over in the field. 'Bitter', 'beloved', 'rebellious' and an Egyptian element meaning beloved have all been proposed, and none has won. The rhyming steps add nothing to the meaning.
How the name formed
- Miryam
- Mary
- Molly
- Polly
Related forms: Molly · Máire · Marie
Pronouncing Polly
POL-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Polly
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
- 1960610 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #222reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- +16.2%79 in 2025, from 68
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.
Polly in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Molly in English — related form
- Máire in Irish — related form
- Marie in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Pollys among us
people named Polly are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 20,345 born in 2025 was named Polly
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
Polly 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 Polly is headed
Polly looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 22% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Polly beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Polly in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mary stands behind it, the single most-used woman's name in European history.
- The double rhyming derivation is one of the best stories in English naming.
- Warm and immediately easy for a child to say.
- It has been a stock name for a parrot since the eighteenth century.
- The link to Mary is invisible without explanation.
- It is period-coded to the nineteenth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Polly
Feminine · #2298 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pollys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,000 people named Polly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Polly in 2025?
- Polly ranks #2298 among US girl names in 2025, with 79 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Polly?
- About 1 in every 20,345 US girls born in 2025 was named Polly — 79 in all.
- Will my child share the name Polly with classmates?
- Polly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Polly
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Shyla#2298 · Skylah#2298 · Therese#2298 · Jennie#2298 · Shira#2298 · Jahzara#2298 · Emelyn#2298 · Khelani#2298
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Polly? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Polly and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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