Holly
Holly was given to 751 girls in 2025, #416 among girls’ names; 206,845 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 191,000 Americans named Holly and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 46 years old and half are between 36 and 56.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Holly by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Holly mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Holly is “a female given name from English.” Its etymology gives the sense “holly” (cuilinn).
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
As an Irish surname, calque of mac cuilinn (“holly”) and sometimes McQuillan.
As an English surname, variant of Holley.
As a Czech and Slovak surname, variant of Holý, Holy.
Also as a locational English surname, from Old English hol leah (“wood, clearing, meadow”), compare Hollywood.
Also as an English surname, short form of Holiday.
Also as an English surname, after the holly tree.
As a feminine given name popularized by Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (especially the 1961 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Holly?
#416 among girls’ names, 2025
Holly rose from #491 in 2015 to #416 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.37 to 0.47 per 1,000.
6,415 babies in 1983, the peak
Holly peaked in 1983, when 6,415 babies were given it (6,388 girls, #48 among girls’ names). The 751 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 751 | #416 | 0.47 |
| 2024 | 745 | #420 | 0.46 |
| 2023 | 682 | #453 | 0.43 |
| 2022 | 693 | #457 | 0.42 |
| 2021 | 673 | #465 | 0.41 |
| 2020 | 639 | #479 | 0.40 |
| 2019 | 651 | #483 | 0.39 |
| 2018 | 608 | #513 | 0.36 |
| 2017 | 634 | #493 | 0.37 |
| 2016 | 589 | #527 | 0.33 |
Every recorded year (125)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 653 | #491 | 0.37 |
| 2014 | 714 | #448 | 0.40 |
| 2013 | 683 | #451 | 0.39 |
| 2012 | 740 | #425 | 0.42 |
| 2011 | 738 | #420 | 0.42 |
| 2010 | 775 | #409 | 0.44 |
| 2009 | 858 | #381 | 0.47 |
| 2008 | 907 | #364 | 0.48 |
| 2007 | 976 | #339 | 0.51 |
| 2006 | 955 | #346 | 0.50 |
| 2005 | 1,040 | #310 | 0.56 |
| 2004 | 1,119 | #293 | 0.61 |
| 2003 | 1,227 | #261 | 0.67 |
| 2002 | 1,363 | #231 | 0.76 |
| 2001 | 1,462 | #219 | 0.81 |
| 2000 | 1,690 | #189 | 0.93 |
| 1999 | 1,749 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1998 | 1,921 | #163 | 1.1 |
| 1997 | 2,056 | #152 | 1.2 |
| 1996 | 2,438 | #130 | 1.4 |
| 1995 | 2,544 | #126 | 1.4 |
| 1994 | 2,924 | #112 | 1.6 |
| 1993 | 3,032 | #108 | 1.7 |
| 1992 | 3,347 | #99 | 1.8 |
| 1991 | 3,289 | #105 | 1.8 |
| 1990 | 3,772 | #89 | 2.0 |
| 1989 | 3,893 | #79 | 2.1 |
| 1988 | 4,217 | #72 | 2.4 |
| 1987 | 4,259 | #71 | 2.4 |
| 1986 | 4,838 | #63 | 2.8 |
| 1985 | 5,602 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1984 | 5,928 | #53 | 3.5 |
| 1983 | 6,388 | #48 | 3.8 |
| 1982 | 4,682 | #61 | 2.8 |
| 1981 | 4,564 | #63 | 2.7 |
| 1980 | 5,282 | #52 | 3.2 |
| 1979 | 5,488 | #48 | 3.4 |
| 1978 | 4,972 | #55 | 3.2 |
| 1977 | 5,463 | #52 | 3.6 |
| 1976 | 5,173 | #56 | 3.5 |
| 1975 | 5,047 | #55 | 3.5 |
| 1974 | 5,144 | #56 | 3.5 |
| 1973 | 5,114 | #54 | 3.5 |
| 1972 | 4,376 | #71 | 2.9 |
| 1971 | 4,747 | #76 | 2.9 |
| 1970 | 4,940 | #74 | 2.8 |
| 1969 | 4,123 | #87 | 2.4 |
| 1968 | 3,421 | #103 | 2.1 |
| 1967 | 3,153 | #109 | 1.9 |
| 1966 | 3,398 | #101 | 2.0 |
| 1965 | 3,359 | #113 | 1.9 |
| 1964 | 3,478 | #121 | 1.8 |
| 1963 | 3,135 | #132 | 1.6 |
| 1962 | 2,922 | #148 | 1.5 |
| 1961 | 2,575 | #161 | 1.3 |
| 1960 | 2,580 | #161 | 1.3 |
| 1959 | 2,290 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1958 | 2,242 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1957 | 2,394 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 1956 | 2,325 | #162 | 1.2 |
| 1955 | 2,504 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 1954 | 2,092 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1953 | 1,566 | #199 | 0.83 |
| 1952 | 1,317 | #214 | 0.71 |
| 1951 | 1,069 | #237 | 0.59 |
| 1950 | 834 | #266 | 0.49 |
| 1949 | 631 | #307 | 0.37 |
| 1948 | 672 | #294 | 0.40 |
| 1947 | 708 | #295 | 0.40 |
| 1946 | 507 | #331 | 0.32 |
| 1945 | 382 | #353 | 0.29 |
| 1944 | 305 | #415 | 0.23 |
| 1943 | 318 | #410 | 0.23 |
| 1942 | 230 | #489 | 0.17 |
| 1941 | 134 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1940 | 74 | #829 | 0.06 |
| 1939 | 70 | #832 | 0.06 |
| 1938 | 66 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 48 | #1,025 | 0.05 |
| 1936 | 49 | #981 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 44 | #1,044 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 28 | #1,386 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 25 | #1,492 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 32 | #1,302 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 28 | #1,407 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 25 | #1,585 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 22 | #1,733 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 24 | #1,703 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,695 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 20 | #1,956 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 18 | #2,144 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 18 | #2,176 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 17 | #2,215 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 22 | #1,860 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,428 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 18 | #2,113 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 12 | #2,717 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,431 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 20 | #1,805 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,903 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,835 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,775 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,951 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 9 | #2,048 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,711 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 7 | #2,019 | 0.02 |
| 1908 | 10 | #1,386 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 9 | #1,447 | 0.03 |
| 1906 | 10 | #1,260 | 0.03 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,752 | 0.02 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,711 | 0.02 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,808 | 0.02 |
| 1897 | 7 | #1,318 | 0.03 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,681 | 0.02 |
| 1893 | 8 | #1,126 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Holly a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Holly has been given almost only to girls: 1,541 boys in 133 years of records.
Girls and boys named Holly: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Holly, and how old are they?
191,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 206,845 Americans ever recorded as Holly. The median Holly alive today is 46 years old; half are between 36 and 56.
The 2020 Census counted 182,754 people named Holly (182,265 women and girls, 489 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 191,057 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 918 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 29,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 68,400 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 64,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 19,400 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 8,660 |
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 Holly born?
The states with the most babies named Holly are California, Ohio and Texas, with 21% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 16,799 | #451 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 13,160 | #518 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 12,133 | #515 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 11,860 | #532 | 1.1× |
| New York | 10,437 | #573 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 9,717 | #492 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 8,842 | #391 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 6,883 | #588 | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 6,055 | #296 | 1.1× |
| Wisconsin | 5,727 | #317 | 1.3× |
Where Holly is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Holly is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 1.5 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 Holly 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, Holly is the most given (86% of them). In 2025 it was given to 751 of their 873 babies (86%), 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 Holly
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 Holly and names like it
- Compare Holly and HollieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sHolly peaked in 1983.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Holly since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Holly: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1983The year the most babies were named Holly.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Holly alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with HMost given first.