Molly

What Molly means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Molly yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Down from #144 in 2015 to #196 in 2025 in the US Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Molly?

US: Falling: down from #144 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #46 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1991, when 4,652 girls got the name (#74 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,004 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 625 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 252 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 VT (5.13 per 1,000 girls), ND (2.96 per 1,000 girls), ME (2.89 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Molly is #196 in the US and #120 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 Molly were girls.

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

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Miley900 US · 220 E&W
• Milly113 US · 46 E&W
• Milla39 US · 6 E&W
• Maily38 US · 6 E&W
• Milli33 US · 3 E&W
• Maely30 US · 3 E&W
• Meily15 US
• Mally12 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.

If you like Molly

Girls

• Samantha#151“listener”^*
• Jenna#679Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 6,436 babies; 418 in 2025
• Michelle#465Feminine form of Michel, meaning “who is like God?”^*
• Rebekah#884“enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”^*
• Elisabeth#925“my God is an oath”^*
• Jessica#665possibly “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe…^*

For a brother

• Joel#219Editor’s note Down from #158 in 2015 to #219 in 2025 in the US
• Johnathan#508Variant of Jonathan, meaning “God has given”^*
• Jonathan#89“God has given”^*
• Joshua#66“to save”^*
• Jordan#131Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #59 in 2015, #131 in 2025
• Mathew#973Variant of Matthew, meaning “gift of the Lord”^*

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