Dolly
Dolly was given to 113 girls in 2025, #1,781 among girls’ names; 20,636 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,160 Americans named Dolly and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (40% of everyone recorded); the median is 66 years old and half are between 48 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dolly by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dolly mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dolly is “a diminutive of the female given names Dorothy, Dolores, and Doris.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dolly?
#1,781 among girls’ names, 2025
Dolly rose from #4,624 in 2015 to #1,781 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 16.8 to 70.3 per million.
395 babies in 1926, the peak
Dolly peaked in 1926, when 395 girls were given it, #332 among girls’ names. The 113 births of 2025 are 29% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 113 | #1,781 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 127 | #1,632 | 0.08 |
| 2023 | 129 | #1,617 | 0.08 |
| 2022 | 113 | #1,807 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 87 | #2,157 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 61 | #2,727 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 54 | #3,015 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 53 | #3,063 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 49 | #3,259 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 42 | #3,664 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 30 | #4,624 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 23 | #5,667 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 26 | #5,179 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 20 | #6,405 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 13 | #8,763 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 26 | #5,283 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 19 | #6,882 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 18 | #7,153 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 17 | #7,479 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 19 | #6,658 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 18 | #6,612 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 15 | #7,502 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 10 | #9,866 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,791 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 15 | #7,057 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 17 | #6,276 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 17 | #5,988 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 23 | #4,680 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 20 | #5,074 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 29 | #3,745 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 27 | #3,903 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 38 | #3,044 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 34 | #3,304 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 33 | #3,346 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 51 | #2,453 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 41 | #2,812 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 39 | #2,821 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 60 | #1,988 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 29 | #3,194 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 54 | #2,008 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 48 | #2,182 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 49 | #2,056 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 54 | #1,917 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 61 | #1,789 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 61 | #1,814 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 72 | #1,612 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 67 | #1,667 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 75 | #1,506 | 0.05 |
| 1977 | 99 | #1,227 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 82 | #1,318 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 92 | #1,242 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 89 | #1,228 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 83 | #1,256 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 105 | #1,085 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 133 | #959 | 0.08 |
| 1970 | 115 | #1,061 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 93 | #1,155 | 0.06 |
| 1968 | 113 | #979 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 114 | #953 | 0.07 |
| 1966 | 137 | #858 | 0.08 |
| 1965 | 155 | #793 | 0.09 |
| 1964 | 171 | #798 | 0.09 |
| 1963 | 151 | #852 | 0.08 |
| 1962 | 162 | #824 | 0.08 |
| 1961 | 185 | #772 | 0.09 |
| 1960 | 183 | #756 | 0.09 |
| 1959 | 207 | #696 | 0.10 |
| 1958 | 243 | #629 | 0.12 |
| 1957 | 215 | #669 | 0.11 |
| 1956 | 249 | #604 | 0.12 |
| 1955 | 239 | #596 | 0.12 |
| 1954 | 247 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1953 | 243 | #559 | 0.13 |
| 1952 | 274 | #511 | 0.15 |
| 1951 | 238 | #545 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 262 | #496 | 0.15 |
| 1949 | 258 | #503 | 0.15 |
| 1948 | 267 | #498 | 0.16 |
| 1947 | 262 | #513 | 0.15 |
| 1946 | 263 | #482 | 0.17 |
| 1945 | 221 | #485 | 0.17 |
| 1944 | 243 | #460 | 0.18 |
| 1943 | 234 | #483 | 0.17 |
| 1942 | 250 | #466 | 0.19 |
| 1941 | 274 | #416 | 0.23 |
| 1940 | 271 | #416 | 0.24 |
| 1939 | 235 | #438 | 0.21 |
| 1938 | 232 | #442 | 0.21 |
| 1937 | 295 | #376 | 0.28 |
| 1936 | 329 | #346 | 0.32 |
| 1935 | 335 | #349 | 0.32 |
| 1934 | 327 | #346 | 0.31 |
| 1933 | 331 | #341 | 0.33 |
| 1932 | 364 | #334 | 0.34 |
| 1931 | 357 | #338 | 0.34 |
| 1930 | 387 | #331 | 0.34 |
| 1929 | 387 | #329 | 0.35 |
| 1928 | 390 | #339 | 0.34 |
| 1927 | 350 | #366 | 0.29 |
| 1926 | 395 | #332 | 0.33 |
| 1925 | 388 | #341 | 0.32 |
| 1924 | 352 | #366 | 0.28 |
| 1923 | 349 | #355 | 0.29 |
| 1922 | 350 | #348 | 0.29 |
| 1921 | 354 | #349 | 0.29 |
| 1920 | 348 | #352 | 0.29 |
| 1919 | 341 | #349 | 0.30 |
| 1918 | 354 | #349 | 0.31 |
| 1917 | 287 | #374 | 0.27 |
| 1916 | 302 | #354 | 0.29 |
| 1915 | 287 | #352 | 0.29 |
| 1914 | 202 | #375 | 0.27 |
| 1913 | 183 | #360 | 0.29 |
| 1912 | 188 | #331 | 0.34 |
| 1911 | 138 | #337 | 0.33 |
| 1910 | 133 | #343 | 0.34 |
| 1909 | 108 | #348 | 0.31 |
| 1908 | 124 | #316 | 0.37 |
| 1907 | 103 | #346 | 0.32 |
| 1906 | 96 | #341 | 0.33 |
| 1905 | 102 | #334 | 0.35 |
| 1904 | 102 | #321 | 0.37 |
| 1903 | 92 | #322 | 0.35 |
| 1902 | 85 | #344 | 0.32 |
| 1901 | 80 | #342 | 0.33 |
| 1900 | 94 | #341 | 0.31 |
| 1899 | 70 | #354 | 0.30 |
| 1898 | 72 | #369 | 0.28 |
| 1897 | 62 | #371 | 0.26 |
| 1896 | 63 | #366 | 0.26 |
| 1895 | 70 | #343 | 0.30 |
| 1894 | 60 | #359 | 0.27 |
| 1893 | 49 | #386 | 0.23 |
| 1892 | 51 | #373 | 0.24 |
| 1891 | 46 | #366 | 0.25 |
| 1890 | 57 | #338 | 0.30 |
| 1889 | 62 | #308 | 0.35 |
| 1888 | 60 | #308 | 0.34 |
| 1887 | 32 | #380 | 0.22 |
| 1886 | 54 | #283 | 0.37 |
| 1885 | 44 | #303 | 0.33 |
| 1884 | 36 | #328 | 0.28 |
| 1883 | 24 | #376 | 0.21 |
| 1882 | 36 | #294 | 0.33 |
| 1881 | 33 | #277 | 0.36 |
| 1880 | 21 | #355 | 0.23 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dolly a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dolly has been given almost only to girls: 44 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Dolly: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dolly, and how old are they?
8,160 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 40% of the 20,636 Americans ever recorded as Dolly. The median Dolly alive today is 66 years old; half are between 48 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 10,079 people named Dolly (10,033 women and girls, 46 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 9,113 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,450 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,300 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 687 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 280 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 902 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Dolly born?
The states with the most babies named Dolly are California, Pennsylvania and Texas, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,222 | #2,142 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,100 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 1,077 | #1,826 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 845 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| West Virginia | 801 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Virginia | 770 | #1,078 | 1.6× |
| North Carolina | 742 | #1,084 | 1.2× |
| Kentucky | 677 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 573 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 567 | #2,178 | 0.3× |
Where Dolly is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dolly is most over-represented in West Virginia: since 1910 it was given 2.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Dolly with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 41,185 babies since 1880, Dolly is the most given (50% of them). In 2025 it was given to 113 of their 126 babies (90%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Dolly
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Dolly and names like it
- Compare Dolly and DollieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sDolly peaked in 1926.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dolly since 1910.
- The top names of 1926The year the most babies were named Dolly.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dolly alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.