Holly
Featured in baby name books
Holly is an English plant name from the evergreen holly tree, traditionally given to girls born near Christmas. Used since the 1930s and peaking in the 1970s, Holly is more popular in Britain; it has a cheerful, jolly feel. Holly Golightly of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and actress Holly Hunter give the name some class. Holly is the supposedly superintelligent ship’s computer in the BBC series Red Dwarf.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Baby Names Book, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Girls, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names, Sci-Fi Baby Names
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Usage of Holly in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Holly against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Holly is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Holly in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 751 girls were named Holly, making it the #416 girls' name in the US. Since 1893, 205,304 girls have been named Holly, with the most (6,388) in 1983. It is most common, relative to births, in Washington, D.C., Montana and Idaho.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
| Where | Rank | Count | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada (Ontario) | #372 girls | 34 | Government of Ontario (Office of the Registrar General, ServiceOntario), 2024 |
| England and Wales | #169 girls | 285 | Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2025 |
| Ireland | #69 girls | 77 | Central Statistics Office (CSO), 2025 |
| Netherlands | #412 girls | 32 | Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB), 2025 |
| New Zealand | #161 girls | 24 | Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), Births, Deaths and Marriages, 2025 |
| Northern Ireland (English-speaking) | #87 girls | 24 | Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), 2025 |
| Northern Ireland (Irish-speaking) | #87 girls | 24 | Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), 2025 |
| Poland | #498 girls | 4 | Ministry of Digital Affairs (Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji), PESEL register, via dane.gov.pl, 2025 |
| Scotland | #77 girls | 54 | National Records of Scotland (NRS), 2025 |
| Sweden | #324 girls | 22 | Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket), 2025 |
| Sweden | #892 girls (all ages) | 899 | Statistics Sweden (SCB), 2020 |
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Storms named Holly
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Holly, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typhoon Holly (Category 5) | 1987 | Western Pacific | 259 km/h |
| Typhoon Holly (Category 1) | 1984 | Western Pacific | 139 km/h |
| Tropical storm Holly | 1984 | Western Pacific | – |
| Tropical storm Holly | 1981 | Western Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Hurricane Holly (Category 1) | 1976 | North Atlantic | 120 km/h |
| Hurricane Holly (Category 1) | 1969 | North Atlantic | 130 km/h |
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Holly
There are 182 towns and villages with Holly in their name, in 5 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 175🇦🇺 Australia 2🇨🇦 Canada 2🇬🇧 United Kingdom 2🇯🇲 Jamaica 1
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holly Springs | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 31,377 | Map |
| Mount Holly | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 14,176 | Map |
| Holly Hill | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | 11,943 | Map |
| Mount Holly | New Jersey, 🇺🇸 United States | 10,804 | Map |
| Holly Springs | Georgia, 🇺🇸 United States | 10,719 | Map |
| Holly Springs | Mississippi, 🇺🇸 United States | 7,901 | Map |
| Holly Springs | Mississippi, 🇺🇸 United States | 7,610 | Map |
| Holly | Michigan, 🇺🇸 United States | 6,169 | Map |
| Holly Ridge | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 2,096 | Map |
| Holly Hill | South Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 1,237 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Holly
There are 39 lakes and reservoirs with Holly in their name, in 2 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 37🇨🇦 Canada 2
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Holly Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Holly Lake | Arkansas, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | Missouri, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | Texas, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | Texas, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | Michigan, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Holly Lake | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Holly songs
2 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Holly in their title. The best known:
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Holly
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Holly.
Holly Allen
Holly Black
Holly Colvin
Holly Golightly
See more...
Fictional characters named Holly
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Holly as a pet name
FurryName has found 2,196 dogs named Holly in public pet registers, making it the #81 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Playford (96), Burnside (36), Noosa (31). Holly as a dog name →
FurryName has found 207 cats named Holly in public pet registers, making it the #149 cat name there. Most of them are registered in Toronto (34), Corangamite Shire (3), Surf Coast Shire (2). Holly as a cat name →
Holly products
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