Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Holly?
Births per year, rank history and how many Hollies are alive today.
Holly (female) sits just outside the top 100 girls' names in England and Wales, ranked 169th in 2025 with 285 babies given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 2002, when 3,435 babies were given the name, the 12th most popular that year. It was almost as popular in 1994, with around 3,000 babies given the name that year. It has declined since 2002; the 2025 figure is roughly 8% of its peak. Numbers have been falling in recent years. At least 75,000 babies have been named Holly in England and Wales since 1984. Figures before 1996 are estimates. Holly is one spelling of a name also recorded as Hollie; the combined figures below cover every spelling.
Across all spellings of the name, the Holly you are most likely to meet is around 24 years old. Half of all Hollies born in England and Wales are between 17 and 31, and there are at least 96,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 26% chance that at least one of them will be called Holly.
How many babies are named Holly each year?
Includes all spellings: Holly, Hollie. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Holly spelling rank?
Where does the Hollie spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Holly most popular?
Holly peaked in 2002, when 4,321 babies in England and Wales were given the name across all spellings.
How many people are called Holly?
At least 96,000 people named Holly in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Holly?
Most living Hollies are between 17 and 31; the most common age is about 24.
Is Holly becoming more or less popular?
Declining: recent figures are a fraction of the 2002 peak.