Holmes
Holmes was last recorded in 2024, when 6 babies were given it; 610 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Holmes by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Holmes mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Holmes is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “islet” (holm).
From holme, variant of holm (“islet”).
/hoʊmz/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Holmes?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #11,440, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
24 babies in 1915, the peak
Holmes peaked in 1915, when 24 boys were given it, #1,387 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 6 | #11,440 | 3.5 |
| 2022 | 5 | #13,051 | 2.9 |
| 2021 | 5 | #12,825 | 2.9 |
| 2019 | 6 | #11,279 | 3.3 |
| 2013 | 8 | #9,098 | 4.2 |
| 1980 | 5 | #6,638 | 2.8 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,221 | 2.8 |
| 1970 | 5 | #5,022 | 2.7 |
| 1968 | 6 | #3,886 | 3.5 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,342 | 3.3 |
Every recorded year (55)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | 8 | #3,072 | 3.9 |
| 1954 | 7 | #3,283 | 3.4 |
| 1953 | 9 | #2,794 | 4.6 |
| 1951 | 9 | #2,751 | 4.8 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,659 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 5 | #3,932 | 2.8 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,569 | 5.5 |
| 1945 | 9 | #2,476 | 6.7 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,733 | 5.9 |
| 1943 | 13 | #2,113 | 9.1 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,067 | 5.1 |
| 1941 | 14 | #1,948 | 11.4 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,392 | 8.6 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,348 | 9.0 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,255 | 9.9 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,574 | 8.4 |
| 1936 | 10 | #2,362 | 9.6 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,811 | 7.7 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,614 | 19.2 |
| 1932 | 18 | #1,745 | 17.2 |
| 1931 | 9 | #2,752 | 8.7 |
| 1930 | 9 | #2,873 | 8.2 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,254 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 13 | #2,327 | 11.7 |
| 1927 | 18 | #1,912 | 16.0 |
| 1926 | 17 | #1,944 | 15.3 |
| 1925 | 23 | #1,608 | 20.6 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,402 | 11.5 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,170 | 13.7 |
| 1922 | 12 | #2,556 | 11.0 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,613 | 20.9 |
| 1920 | 20 | #1,789 | 18.8 |
| 1919 | 21 | #1,663 | 21.4 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,739 | 19.7 |
| 1917 | 17 | #1,857 | 18.4 |
| 1916 | 19 | #1,662 | 21.3 |
| 1915 | 24 | #1,387 | 28.3 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,643 | 22.9 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,371 | 13.7 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,469 | 27.9 |
| 1907 | 5 | #1,436 | 34.1 |
| 1903 | 7 | #958 | 58.7 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,069 | 48.9 |
| 1884 | 5 | #1,045 | 43.7 |
| 1880 | 6 | #867 | 54.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Holmes a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Holmes has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 55 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Holmes: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Holmes, and how old are they?
An estimated 122 Americans named Holmes and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (20% of everyone recorded); the median is 72 years old and half are between 46 and 82. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 428 people named Holmes (43 women and girls, 385 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 146 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.9 times 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.
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).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Holmes
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 Holmes and names like it
- Compare Holmes and NorvalBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sHolmes peaked in 1915.
- Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Holmes since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Holmes: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Holmes.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Holmes alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.