Hollen
A feminine given name of unknown origin, potentially from a Germanic root.
Name Census estimates that about 46 living Americans carry the first name Hollen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Hollen today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hollen births was 2020 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hollen. 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 Hollen. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
46
~ 1 in 7,451,181 Americans
Peak year
2020
11 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,774
Tracked since 1982
Census
Hollen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 184 people with the first name Hollen, which placed it at #40,443 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
#40,443
National first-name rank
People counted
184
184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hollen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hollen is White at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Hollen 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 Hollen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.9% · 158
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 8
- Two or more races4.3% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 5
- Black or African American2.2% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Hollen
Hollen leans heavily female at 89.4% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hollen as a male name
- Ranked #12,774 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2020 (5 births)
Hollen as a female name
- Ranked #16,142 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hollen on both sides of the split. Of the 186 people counted with this name, 76 were male (40.9%) and 110 were female (59.1%).
Popularity
Hollen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hollen from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 16 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hollen 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 Hollen 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 Hollen
The given name Hollen is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with roots dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, around the 5th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old English word "hol," which means "hollow" or "cave," and the suffix "-en," indicating a place or location. Thus, Hollen might have initially referred to someone who lived near or in a hollow or cave.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hollen can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a place name, "Hollen," referring to a settlement or village in the county of Bedfordshire.
In medieval times, the name Hollen was occasionally used as a given name, although it was not particularly common. One notable individual bearing this name was Hollen of Bamburgh, a 12th-century monk and chronicler from Northumbria, England. He is known for his work titled "The History of the Church of Bamburgh," which documented the history of the monastery and the surrounding area.
During the Renaissance period, the name Hollen gained some popularity among the aristocracy and upper classes in England. One prominent figure was Sir Hollen Halliwell, born in 1532, who served as a courtier and diplomat under Queen Elizabeth I. He was known for his diplomatic missions to France and his involvement in the establishment of the East India Company.
In the 17th century, Hollen Craven was a notable English merchant and philanthropist who made significant contributions to the city of York. Born in 1610, he was a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers and donated funds for the construction of almshouses and the repair of churches in the area.
Another historical figure bearing the name Hollen was Hollen Fitzpatrick, an Irish soldier and writer who lived in the 18th century. Born in 1708, he served in the British Army and is best known for his memoirs, "The Life and Adventures of Hollen Fitzpatrick," which provided insights into military life and the social conditions of the time.
These examples illustrate the historical usage and significance of the given name Hollen, which, despite its relative rarity, has been carried by individuals from various walks of life throughout the centuries.
People
Hollen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hollen 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
Hollen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hollen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hollen 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 7,451,181 US residents.
Is Hollen a common name?
We classify Hollen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 47 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hollen most popular?
The single biggest year for Hollen was 2020, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hollen is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hollen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 184 people with the name Hollen, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,443 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 Hollen 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 Hollen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hollen on both sides of the split. Of the 186 people counted with this name, 76 were male (40.9%) and 110 were female (59.1%). 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 Hollen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hollen is White at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Hollen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hollen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.9% (158 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 Hollen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hollen a female name?
Yes, 89.4% of people registered as Hollen 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 Hollen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hollen 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 Hollen 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 common is the name Hollen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.