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Holly

What does Holly mean?

Holly Pronunciation of Holly as a girls' name is pronounced HAH-lee. It is of Old English origin, and the meaning of Holly is "the holly tree". Botanical name from Middle English holi(n), Old English holegn. First used in the early 20th century. Holly Golightly is the heroine in Truman Capote's nove "Breakfast at Tiffany's", which was made into a film in 1961, starring Audrey Hepburn. The name is often given to daughters born on or near Christmas. Actress Holly Hunter; singer Holly Near.

STARTS/ENDS WITH Ho-, -ly

ASSOCIATED WITH old english, old, 20th century (modern), heroine

Variations

VARIANTS Hollee, Holleigh, Holley, Holli, Hollie, Hollyann, Hollye

SEE ALSO Hollis

CREATIVE FORMS
(female) Huly, ..

(male) Holla, ..


MIDDLE NAME PAIRINGS
Holly Riley (H.R.), ..

How popular is Holly?

Holly is a very popular first name for women (#186 out of 4276, Top 4%) and also a very popular surname for both adults and children (#3680 out of 150436, Top 2%). (2000 U.S. CENSUS)

Holly was first listed in 1890-1899 and reached its peak rank of #58 in the U.S. during the years 1970-1979, and is currently at #509. (TOP 2000 NAMES, 2018)

Top 2000 baby names ranking of Holly name in U.S.

Top 100 baby names ranking of Holly outside U.S.

Which version is better?

Hollis (#1705 THE PREVIOUS YEAR), Holley, Holli and Hollie are the prominent related forms of Holly (#509). These forms of Holly were at the apex of their popularity 5 decades ago (USAGE OF 0.4%) and have become much less conventional since, with versions such as Holli falling out of fashion.



Top 2000 baby names ranking of Holly, Holley, Holli, Hollie, Hollis in U.S.

Top 100 baby names ranking of Holly, Hollie outside U.S.

Similar Names

Holly is pronounced similarly to Haeley, Haely, Hailey, Haily, Hala, Halah, Halea, Haley, Hali, Halia, Halie, Halley, Halli, Hallie, Hally, Hayley, Helia, Hella, Hellee, Hellia, Hillie and Hilly. Other suggested similar-sounding names are Ally, Billy, Cally, Cilly, Colly, Corly, Delly, Dolly, Elly, Gilly, Hadly, Halle, Harly, Hedly, Helle, Hildy, Hill, Hille, Holda, Holde (see Holda), Holle, Holles, Honey, Jilly, Joelly, Joely, Joly, Jully, Kally, Kelly, Lally, Lilly, Lolly, Mally, Melly, Milly, Molly, Nelly, Polly, Sally, Tally, Tilly, Tully, Vally, Wally and Willy. These names tend to be less commonly used than Holly.

See names
in meaning and etymology.


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