Holly

What Holly means

Means “wood, clearing, meadow”

Also as a locational English surname, from Old English hol leah (“wood, clearing, meadow”), compare Hollywood.

Source: Wiktionary, “Holly” (revision 94540097), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Holly?

US: Rising: up from #491 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #44 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1983, when 6,388 girls got the name (#48 that year). First in the US records in 1893.

How common

• About 1 in 2,140 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 889 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 331 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (2.48 per 1,000 girls), MT (1.77 per 1,000 girls), ID (1.54 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Holly is #416 in the US and #169 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Holly were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Haley314 US · 4 E&W
• Halley43 US · 9 E&W
• Holley40 US
• Heily32 US
• Hally19 US
• Haily17 US
• Holy10 US · 4 E&W
• Holli12 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Hollie
• Hollee
• Holli
• Hollye
• Holley

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Holly

Girls

• April#542“the month of the goddess Venus”^*
• Amber#520“ambergris”^*
• Tiffany#878Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1988, with 18,364 babies; 304 in 2025
• Kelsey#814Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #343 in 2015, #814 in 2025
• Kelly#851Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 18,234 babies; 319 in 2025
• Ashley#164“ash tree + wood, clearing”^*

For a brother

• Scott#534Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1971, with 30,901 babies; 561 in 2025
• Douglas#807“black + stream”^*
• Taylor#683From the word “tailor”^*
• Casey#320“descendant of (a person named) Watchful”^*
• Cody#318Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1992, with 19,876 babies; 1,076 in 2025
• Harold#991“army + ruler, authority”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under English, From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Holly’s. Rank is US 2025.