Holly

Holly is an English-language surname and given name.
Holly is a special name and known as an English or Irish surname (variant Holley) it is either locational, ultimately derived an Old English hol lēah "[dwelling by] the clearing by the hollow", or descriptive, from hol-ēage "hollow-eyed". In Ireland, it was also used as a translation of the name Mac Cuilinn, which is derived from cuileann, the Gaelic name of the holly tree, and by extension sometimes of the similar-sounding McQuillan surname of Ulster. The masculine names Holly, Hollie were derived from the surname, but have mostly fallen out of use since the mid 20th century due to the rise in popularity of the feminine name. Hollis is an English surname derived from a Middle English holis "[dwelling by] holly trees"; it was also used as a masculine given name.
Holly (variant Hollie) was first used as a feminine given name in the 20th century, as a "botanical" name given to girls, in reference to, or at least secondarily associated with, the holly tree. While the feminine name is on record in the United States since the 1930s, its surge in popularity was due to Holly Golightly, the socialite protagonist in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958), which was made into a film starring Audrey Hepburn in 1961. The name of this character is stated to be short for Holiday (rather than a reference to the plant). The name peaked in popularity in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, and has declined since, ranking at #380 in the United States as of 2009. It was popularly given in England and Wales during the 2000s, staying in the top 30 girls' names throughout 1996–2012, with a peak at rank #12 in 2002 (and dropping to rank #33 as of 2013). A tendency to give the name to girls born on or near Christmas has also been observed. More recent eccentric spellings of the feminine name include Holli (1970s), Holleigh, Hollee, Hollye.

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Evergreen shrub especially used for decoration at Christmas, mid-15c., earlier holin (mid-12c.), shortening of Old English holegn, holen "holly," from Proto-Germanic *hulin- (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German hulis, Old Norse hulfr, Middle Dutch huls, Dutch, German hulst "holly"), cognate with Middle Irish cuilenn, Welsh celyn, Gaelic cuilionn "holly," probably all from PIE root *kel- (5) "to prick" (source also of Old Church Slavonic kolja "to prick," Russian kolos "ear of corn"), in reference to its leaves. French houx "holly" is from Frankish *huls or some other Germanic source.

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Taken from the name of the holly tree, an evergreen whose stiff, glossy, sharp-pointed leaves and clusters of red berries are used in Christmas decorations.

Popularity	Name	Birth Year	Description
1	Holly Holm	1981	American boxer
2	Buddy Holly	1936	American singer-songwriter
3	Holly Hunter	1958	American actress and producer
4	Lauren Holly	1963	American actress
5	Holly Madison	1979	American author, model, showgirl, and television personality
6	Holly Marie Combs	1973	Actress, television producer
7	Holly Willoughby	1981	English television presenter and fashion model
8	Holly Valance	1983	Singer, actress, Model
9	Holly Robinson Peete	1964	American actress
10	Holly Hagan	1992	English television personality
11	Holly Flax
12	Holly Johnson	1960	British artist
13	Molly Holly	1977	Professional wrestler
14	Mike Lockwood	1971	American professional wrestler
15	María Elena Holly	1932	Puerto Rican businesswoman
16	Holly Taylor	1997	Canadian actress
17	Holly Woodlawn	1946	Puerto Rican actress and former Warhol superstar
18	Holly Dunn	1957	American musician
19	Holly Earl	1992	British actress
20	Holly Rowe	1966	American sports announcer
21	Holly Walsh	1980	English comedian
22	Holly Sampson	1973	American pornographic actress
23	Holly Mae Brood	1994
24	Holly Cunningham
25	Holly Aird	1969	English television actress
26	Holly Montag	1983	Sister of reality TV personality
27	Holly Hallstrom	1952	American model
28	Holly Randall	1978	American photographer
29	Holly Barton
30	Holly Palance	1950	American actress
31	Holly Henry	1994	American singer
32	Holly Peers	1987	English glamour model
33	Holly Hobbie	1944	American writer and illustrator
34	Holly Michaels	1990	Pornographic actor
35	Holly Warlick	1958	American basketball player and coach
36	Holly Black	1971	American children's fiction writer
37	Holly Herndon	1980	American composer and singer-songwriter
38	Holly Davidson	1980	British actress
39	Holly Fields	1976	American actress
40	Holly Gagnier	1958	American actress
41	Holly Halston	1974	American pornographic actress
42	Holly McPeak	1969	Volleyball player
43	Holly Knight		American singer-songwriter and musician
44	Holly Blake-Arnstein	1985
45	Holly Piirainen	1983	Murdered American child
46	Holly Cole	1963	Canadian singer
47	Holly Weston	1985	British actress
48	Holly Holliday
49	Holly Carpenter	1991	Miss Ireland 2011
50	Holly Near	1949	American actor, singer and activist
51	Holly Smale	1981	British writer
52	Holly Lewis	1974	Canadian actress
53	Holly Fulger	1956	American actress
54	Holly Miranda	1982	American musician
55	Holly Gibbs	1997	British actress
56	Holly Brisley	1978	Australian actress
57	Holly Bradshaw	1991	British pole vaulter
58	Holly Weber	1984	Model
59	Holly Samos	1970	British DJ
60	Holly Beth Vincent		American musician
61	Holly Ferling	1995	Cricketer
62	Holly Sherwood		American singer
63	Ellen Holly	1931	Actress
64	Holly Shanahan	1981	New Zealand actress
65	Holly G. Frankel	1979	Canadian actress
66	Holly Peterson	1964	Daughter of American billionaire; writer
67	Holly Dale	1953	Canadian film and television director and film producer
68	Holly Throsby	1978	Australian musician
69	Birdsill Holly	1820	American inventor
70	Holly Palmer	1971	American musician
71	Holly Graf		US Navy officer
72	Holly Harper		Fictional character
73	Holly Horton	1975	Canadian sportscaster
74	Holly McNarland	1975	Canadian singer-songwriter
75	Holly Deveaux
76	Holly Green
77	Holly Goldberg Sloan	1958	Film director, producer, novelist and screenwriter
78	Holly Petraeus	1952	Activist
79	Holly Kenny	1995	Actress
80	Holly Williams
81	Holly Body	1970	American pornographic actress
82	Holly Fischer
83	Doyle Holly	1936	American bass player
84	Holly Mitchell	1964	Member of the California State Senate
85	Holly Morris	1971	American journalist
86	Holly Woods	1953	American singer
87	Holly Colvin	1989	English cricketer
88	Holly Sutton-Scorpio
89	Holly One	1965	Italian actor
90	Holly Lucas		British actress
91	Holly Starr	1990	Musician, songwriter, Composer
92	Holly Dignard	1979	Canadian actress
93	Holly Walker-Lynch	1986	British politician
94	Holly Matthews	1984	British actress
95	Holly Bodimeade	1995	British actress
96	Holly Golightly	1964	Cartoonist
97	Michael Ann Holly	1944	Art historian
98	Holly Quin-Ankrah	1987	English actress
99	Holly Hoffman	1966
100	Holly Kiser	1986	American model
101	Holly Van Voast	1965	American photographer
102	Holly Jack		Actress and acting coach
103	Holly Ransom	1990
104	Holly Blanchard	1991
105	Holly Larocque		Canadian actress
106	Holly J. Sinclair
107	Holly Butler	1957	American entertainer
108	Elizabeth Hamilton Holly
109	Holly Lisle	1960	American writer
110	Holly Walker	1982	New Zealand politician
111	Bob Holly	1960	American football player
112	Holly Fulton	1978	British fashion designer
113	Holly Carter		American film producer
114	Holly Wellin	1986	British pornographic actress
115	James Theodore Holly	1829	American bishop
116	Holly Schepisi	1971	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly
117	Holly Brooks	1982	American cross-country skier
118	Holly Tucker	1977	British entrepreneur, philanthropist
119	Holly Ross		British singer
120	Vesper Holly
121	Holly Lamar		Country singer-songwriter
122	Holly Clyburn	1991	Professional golfer
123	Holly Sorensen		American television producer
124	Holly Tshimanga	1997
125	Holly Merrill Raschein	1980	Florida State Representative
126	Holly Rose Emery	1996	Fashion Model
127	Holly Rushmeier		American computer scientist
128	Holly Hendrix	1997	American pornographic actor
129	Holly Lincoln-Smith	1988	Australian female water polo player
130	Holly Hale	1990	Miss Universe 2012 Great Britain
131	Holly Solomon	1934	Prominent collector of contemporary art and an art dealer
132	Holly Hunt		American designer
133	Holly Brockwell
134	Krisztina Holly		American engineer
135	Daven Holly	1982	Player of American football
136	Holly Coors	1920	American activist
137	Holly West	1980	American pornographic actress
138	Holly Geddert	2001
139	Holly Manthei	1976	Association football player
140	Holly Cook	2000	Figure skater
141	Holly Boyd	2000	British actress
142	Holly Twyford		Stage actress
143	Holly Cassidy	1991	New Zealand beauty pageant contestant
144	Holly Muñoz	1981	American musician
145	Holly Martin Smith		American professor
146	Holly Huddleston	1987	Cricketer
147	Holly Andres	1977	American photographer
148	Holly Karrol Clark	1979	American actress
149	Emma Holly	1961	American writer
150	Holly Maples		American actress
151	Holly Sklar	1955	American journalist
152	Christy Holly
153	Holly M. Kirby	1957	American lawyer
154	Holly Goddard Jones	1979	American writer
155	Holly Nelson		Canadian politician
156	Holly Lerski	1969	English singer-songwriter
157	Holly Fink	1964	German cinematographer
158	Holly Hull	1994	British singer
159	Holly Benson	1971	American politician
160	Holly Sweet	1981	American pornographic film actor & model
161	Holly Broadbent Sr.	1939
162	Holly Lawrence	1990
163	Holly Lam-Moores	1990	British handball player
164	Kelvin Holly	1954	American musician
165	J. Hunter Holly	1932	Science fiction author
166	Holly Newman	1976	English actress
167	Holly Bakke
168	Holly Robinson	1994	New Zealand para-athlete
169	Holly Crawford	1984	Australian snowboarder
170	Holly Kinser	1965	American lobbyist
171	Holly Hughes		American politician
172	Holly Kaneko	1969	Japanese voice actor
173	Holly Allen	1988	Beauty queen
174	Holly Willis		American academic
175	Holly Flanders	1957	Olympic alpine skier
176	Holly Goodhead
177	Holly Neill	1989	British athlete
178	Holly Holyoake	1988	Welsh singer
179	Holly Fay		Canadian artist and painter
180	Holly Keller	1942	American illustrator and children's writer
181	Holly Cruikshank	1973	American dancer
182	Holly Hill	1966	Australian author
183	Sean Holly		British economist
184	Holly Finale' Finley		American disc golfer
185	Ed Holly	1879	American baseball player
186	Holly Gribbs
187	Holly Kenyon	1980	English actress
188	Holly Ponichtera		American figure skater
189	Holly Mai	1991	British actress
190	Jeff Holly	1953	American baseball player
191	Holly Houston	1989	Association footballer
192	Holly Bass	1975
193	Holly Hotchner		American museum director
194	Holly Dodson		Canadian singer
195	Holly King	1991	American professional soccer player
196	Holly Hein	1991	American soccer player
197	Tonya Suzanne Holly	1962	American film director
198	Holly Arntzen
199	Holly Meade	1956	American artist and illustrator
200	Holly Bruder		American softball coach