Holli
A feminine given name of Old English origin meaning "dweller in the holly bushes".
Name Census estimates that about 7,982 living Americans carry the first name Holli. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Holli today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Holli births was 1983 (288 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Holli. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Holli with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.0K
~ 1 in 42,941 Americans
Peak year
1983
288 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1983 SSA rank
#6,663
Tracked since 1946
Census
Holli in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,613 people with the first name Holli, which placed it at #2,959 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
#2,959
National first-name rank
People counted
7.6K
7,613 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Holli
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Holli is White at 90.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.2%) and Black (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 Holli 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 Holli at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.7% · 6,903
- Two or more races3.2% · 246
- Black or African American2.5% · 193
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 168
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 53
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 50
Gender
Gender distribution for Holli
Out of the 8,736 babies given the name Holli since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Holli as a male name
- Ranked #6,663 in 1983
- 5 male births in 1983
- Peak: 1983 (5 births)
Holli as a female name
- Ranked #9,134 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1983 (283 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Holli appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,607 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Holli: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Holli from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 2,455 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Holli 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 Holli during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hollis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Holli, while New Mexico, Maine, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 145 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Holli
The name Holli is derived from the Old English word "holih," which means "hollow" or "sunken." It is believed to have originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Holli can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and property values commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this document, a landowner named Holli is listed as holding property in the county of Norfolk.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Holli was relatively uncommon, but it can be found in various historical records and documents from that period. One notable bearer of the name was Holli of Huntingdon, a 12th-century chronicler and historian who wrote extensively about the history of England.
During the Renaissance period, the name Holli gained some popularity, particularly among the upper classes. One famous bearer of the name was Holli Holbein, a German artist and printmaker who lived from 1497 to 1543. He is best known for his portraits of prominent figures of the time, including King Henry VIII of England.
In the 17th century, the name Holli appeared in several literary works, including the play "The Merry Wives of Windsor" by William Shakespeare. One of the characters in the play is named Holli Page.
Another notable bearer of the name Holli was Holli Parke, an English botanist and gardener who lived from 1663 to 1706. He is credited with introducing numerous plant species to England and is considered one of the pioneers of modern horticulture.
As the name Holli continued to be used over the centuries, it gained various spellings and variations, such as Holly, Hollie, and Hallie. While it has remained a relatively uncommon name, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history, including the American actress Holli Hunter, born in 1958, and the Canadian singer-songwriter Holli Cole, born in 1981.
People
Holli + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Holli 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
Holli: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Holli?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,982 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Holli 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 42,941 US residents.
Is Holli a common name?
We classify Holli as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,736 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Holli most popular?
The single biggest year for Holli was 1983, when 288 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Holli is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Holli in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,613 people with the name Holli, or 2.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,959 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 Holli 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 Holli?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Holli appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,607 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Holli?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Holli is White at 90.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.2%) and Black (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 Holli most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Holli in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.7% (6,903 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 Holli in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Holli a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Holli 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 Holli still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Holli 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 Holli 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 people are called Holli?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.