Holle
A feminine given name of Germanic origin meaning "bright", "luminous", or "hollowed".
Name Census estimates that about 64 living Americans carry the first name Holle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Holle today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Holle births was 1954 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Holle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Holle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
64
~ 1 in 5,355,537 Americans
Peak year
1954
8 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1995 SSA rank
#14,246
Tracked since 1953
Census
Holle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 201 people with the first name Holle, which placed it at #38,294 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#38,294
National first-name rank
People counted
201
201 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Holle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Holle is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (2.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Holle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Holle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.6% · 166
- Black or African American8.5% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 5
- Two or more races2.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 4
Popularity
Holle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Holle from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 27 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Holle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Holle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Holle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Holle
The name Holle is a German given name with roots dating back to the medieval era. It has its origins in the Old High German word "holn," which means "to fetch" or "to bring." This name was likely derived from a nickname or occupation related to tasks involving fetching or carrying items.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Holle can be found in the 13th-century German epic poem "Parzival" by Wolfram von Eschenbach. In the poem, Holle is mentioned as a character associated with a mythical figure from Germanic folklore known as Frau Holle or Mother Hulda, who was believed to be a goddess or spirit associated with winter and the spinning of yarn.
During the Middle Ages, the name Holle was particularly popular in regions of present-day Germany and parts of Central Europe. It was often used as a feminine variant of the male name Holger or Holden, which shared similar linguistic roots.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Holle was Holle Bilen, a 14th-century German nun and mystic who lived in the convent of St. Catherine in Nuremberg. She was known for her spiritual visions and writings, which were influential during the medieval period.
Another significant bearer of the name was Holle Grimmelshausen, a 17th-century German writer and author of the picaresque novel "Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus" (The Adventurous Simplicissimus), which is considered a masterpiece of German baroque literature. Grimmelshausen lived from 1622 to 1676.
In the 18th century, Holle Bilfinger was a notable German educator and author who wrote several influential works on pedagogy and children's literature. She lived from 1695 to 1768 and was a pioneering figure in the field of education during the Enlightenment period.
Another historical figure named Holle was Holle Fritzsche, a 19th-century German artist and illustrator known for her intricate woodcut prints and book illustrations. She lived from 1819 to 1898 and was a prominent figure in the German Romantic art movement.
Although the name Holle has its roots in Germanic languages, it has also been adopted and used in other cultures and languages over time, though its historical significance and usage remain most prevalent in German-speaking regions.
People
Holle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Holle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Holle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Holle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 64 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Holle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 5,355,537 US residents.
Is Holle a common name?
We classify Holle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 77 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Holle most popular?
The single biggest year for Holle was 1954, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Holle is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Holle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 201 people with the name Holle, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,294 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Holle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Holle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Holle leans strongly female. 193 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 4 male bearers (2.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Holle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Holle is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (2.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Holle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Holle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.6% (166 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Holle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Holle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Holle in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Holle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Holle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Holle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Holle?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.