Pollyanna
Feminine · “Polly joined to Anna”
Pollyanna is one of the very few names that became an English word. Eleanor H. Porter's 1913 novel gave its heroine that name and a habit of finding something to be glad about in every misfortune; within a decade a pollyanna meant an irrepressible optimist, usually with a note of criticism. The name's American peak is 1964, four years after a Disney film.
How old is the name Pollyanna?
Pollyanna first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Pollyanna alive today was born around 1964, making them about 61 years old. About 800 people named Pollyanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pollyanna most popular?
Pollyanna peaked in 1964, reaching #1559 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 4,557 places below that high. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mary to Pollyanna
The story of Pollyanna
Porter's Pollyanna sold in the hundreds of thousands and produced sequels written by other hands for decades; a 1920 silent film starred Mary Pickford and the 1960 Disney adaptation starred Hayley Mills. The word entered dictionaries in the 1920s. American use of the name follows the adaptations rather than the book: it appears in the records in small numbers from the 1910s and peaks in 1964, in the years after the Disney film. That is a common shape for a name from a much-adapted novel, where each new version supplies a new cohort of parents.
Meaning
Polly joined to Anna
Polly is a pet form of Mary, by way of Molly and a rhyming shift that English makes freely — Margaret gives Meg and Peg, Mary gives Molly and Polly. Mary descends from Hebrew Miryam, whose meaning has never been settled. Anna is the Greek form of Hannah, from a root meaning grace. So the compound joins an unresolved name to a settled one, in the ordinary way of double names.
How the name formed
- Mary
- Polly
- Polly Anna
- Pollyanna
Related forms: Polly Anna · Pollyanne
Pronouncing Pollyanna
POL-ee-AN-uh
Four syllables with stress on the first and third, exactly as the two names in sequence. Nobody has to be taught it; the word is in the dictionary.
Nicknames for Pollyanna
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 196453 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1559reached in 1964
- Change vs 2023
- +111.1%19 in 2025, 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.
Pollyanna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Polly Anna in English — same name
- Pollyanne in English — spelling variant
Pollyannas among us
people named Pollyanna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Pollyanna
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 Peg test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pollyanna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Peg climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Peg's path sketches the road Pollyanna is walking now.
Pollyanna 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
Pollyanna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pollyanna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both halves are complete, universally known names available as fallbacks.
- The pronunciation requires no explanation anywhere in the English-speaking world.
- It is one of a very small number of names that entered the language as a common noun.
- The dictionary word is usually used with a critical edge, which the name carries.
- Four syllables is long for everyday use, so a short form is effectively required.
- Its American curve is around 1960, which places a bearer's generation.
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What they receive
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Pollyanna
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pollyannas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Pollyanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pollyanna in 2025?
- Pollyanna ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pollyanna?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Pollyanna — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pollyanna with classmates?
- Pollyanna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pollyanna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pollyanna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pollyanna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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