Holley
Holley was given to 40 girls in 2025, #3,736 among girls’ names; 4,690 Americans have been recorded with it since 1911 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,310 Americans named Holley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 24 and 51.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Holley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Holley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Holley is “a female given name from English.”
As an English surname, spelling variant of Holly.
Also as an English surname, from Old English hol (“hollow”) leah (“wood, clearing, meadow”) or Old English hol ēage (“eye”), perhaps a nickname for someone with a missing eye.
Also as an English surname, singular variant of Hollis.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Holley?
#3,736 among girls’ names, 2025
Holley fell from #3,317 in 2015 to #3,736 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 27.4 to 24.9 per million.
113 babies in 1974, the peak
Holley peaked in 1974, when 113 babies were given it (105 girls, #1,110 among girls’ names). The 40 births of 2025 are 35% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 40 | #3,736 | 24.9 |
| 2024 | 33 | #4,321 | 20.4 |
| 2023 | 44 | #3,541 | 27.4 |
| 2022 | 39 | #3,846 | 23.8 |
| 2021 | 47 | #3,361 | 28.6 |
| 2020 | 47 | #3,305 | 29.1 |
| 2019 | 44 | #3,520 | 26.2 |
| 2018 | 47 | #3,364 | 27.6 |
| 2017 | 41 | #3,724 | 23.7 |
| 2016 | 43 | #3,611 | 24.3 |
Every recorded year (85)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 49 | #3,317 | 27.4 |
| 2014 | 51 | #3,203 | 28.5 |
| 2013 | 48 | #3,336 | 27.4 |
| 2012 | 52 | #3,187 | 29.5 |
| 2011 | 46 | #3,468 | 26.2 |
| 2010 | 42 | #3,710 | 23.6 |
| 2009 | 68 | #2,687 | 37.0 |
| 2008 | 45 | #3,605 | 23.8 |
| 2007 | 58 | #3,030 | 30.2 |
| 2006 | 42 | #3,690 | 22.1 |
| 2005 | 39 | #3,757 | 21.1 |
| 2004 | 61 | #2,685 | 33.2 |
| 2003 | 60 | #2,645 | 32.8 |
| 2002 | 59 | #2,612 | 32.8 |
| 2001 | 65 | #2,416 | 36.1 |
| 2000 | 63 | #2,435 | 34.7 |
| 1999 | 83 | #1,899 | 46.8 |
| 1998 | 61 | #2,316 | 34.5 |
| 1997 | 72 | #1,991 | 41.4 |
| 1996 | 83 | #1,781 | 47.3 |
| 1995 | 75 | #1,863 | 42.6 |
| 1994 | 60 | #2,215 | 33.6 |
| 1993 | 67 | #2,047 | 37.0 |
| 1992 | 92 | #1,647 | 49.9 |
| 1991 | 69 | #1,995 | 36.8 |
| 1990 | 78 | #1,826 | 41.1 |
| 1989 | 86 | #1,615 | 46.6 |
| 1988 | 94 | #1,461 | 52.8 |
| 1987 | 98 | #1,384 | 56.4 |
| 1986 | 80 | #1,528 | 46.6 |
| 1985 | 104 | #1,291 | 60.4 |
| 1984 | 108 | #1,211 | 64.1 |
| 1983 | 89 | #1,351 | 53.3 |
| 1982 | 84 | #1,440 | 49.6 |
| 1981 | 88 | #1,400 | 52.8 |
| 1980 | 91 | #1,375 | 54.8 |
| 1979 | 86 | #1,426 | 53.6 |
| 1978 | 92 | #1,308 | 60.1 |
| 1977 | 86 | #1,333 | 56.1 |
| 1976 | 79 | #1,359 | 53.9 |
| 1975 | 80 | #1,343 | 54.9 |
| 1974 | 105 | #1,110 | 71.5 |
| 1973 | 81 | #1,280 | 55.5 |
| 1972 | 65 | #1,477 | 42.7 |
| 1971 | 87 | #1,270 | 52.3 |
| 1970 | 86 | #1,273 | 49.2 |
| 1969 | 62 | #1,505 | 36.8 |
| 1968 | 45 | #1,758 | 27.4 |
| 1967 | 36 | #1,960 | 21.8 |
| 1966 | 47 | #1,636 | 27.8 |
| 1965 | 40 | #1,813 | 22.7 |
| 1964 | 41 | #1,844 | 21.6 |
| 1963 | 43 | #1,768 | 22.3 |
| 1962 | 33 | #2,043 | 16.8 |
| 1961 | 22 | #2,633 | 10.9 |
| 1960 | 28 | #2,213 | 13.8 |
| 1959 | 24 | #2,361 | 11.9 |
| 1958 | 36 | #1,828 | 17.9 |
| 1957 | 39 | #1,732 | 19.1 |
| 1956 | 28 | #2,067 | 13.9 |
| 1955 | 29 | #1,995 | 14.8 |
| 1954 | 23 | #2,261 | 11.8 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,863 | 8.0 |
| 1952 | 12 | #3,275 | 6.5 |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,361 | 6.1 |
| 1950 | 12 | #3,128 | 7.0 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,022 | 4.7 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,878 | 7.7 |
| 1947 | 9 | #3,836 | 5.1 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,651 | 3.8 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,231 | 4.6 |
| 1944 | 10 | #3,023 | 7.5 |
| 1943 | 13 | #2,617 | 9.3 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,891 | 5.2 |
| 1937 | 6 | #4,003 | 5.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Holley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 4,690 Americans recorded as Holley, 96% are girls and 4% boys. In 2025 it went to 40 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Holley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Holley, and how old are they?
4,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 4,690 Americans ever recorded as Holley. The median Holley alive today is 38 years old; half are between 24 and 51.
The 2020 Census counted 3,908 people named Holley (3,807 women and girls, 101 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,157 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 33 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 390 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,100 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,320 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 906 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 569 |
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 Holley born?
The states with the most babies named Holley are Texas, California and Alabama, with 55% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 439 | #3,498 | 1.1× |
| California | 187 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Alabama | 181 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Florida | 136 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 102 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 90 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 70 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Ohio | 45 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 34 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| North Carolina | 27 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Holley is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Holley is most over-represented in Alabama: since 1911 it was given 2.2 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 Holley 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 241,652 babies since 1880, Holley is the fourth most given (1.9% of them). In 2025 it was given to 40 of their 873 babies (4.6%), the third most given that year.
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 Holley
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 Holley and names like it
- Compare Holley and HollyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sHolley peaked in 1974.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Holley since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Holley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1974The year the most babies were named Holley.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Holley alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with HMost given first.