Hollis
From a surname of English origin referring to a dweller by the hollies.
Name Census estimates that about 11,810 living Americans carry the first name Hollis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Hollis today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hollis births was 2024 (396 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hollis. 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 Hollis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,022 Americans
Peak year
2024
396 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,053
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hollis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,161 people with the first name Hollis, which placed it at #2,441 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
#2,441
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,161 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hollis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hollis is White at 77.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.5%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Hollis 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 Hollis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.3% · 7,852
- Black or African American15.5% · 1,571
- Two or more races3.6% · 365
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 233
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 73
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 67
Gender
Gender distribution for Hollis
Hollis is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 21,037 total registrations, 15,748 (74.9%) were male and 5,289 (25.1%) were female.
Hollis as a male name
- Ranked #1,053 in 2024
- 208 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (294 births)
Hollis as a female name
- Ranked #1,237 in 2024
- 188 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (188 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hollis on both sides of the split. Of the 10,157 people counted with this name, 6,379 were male (62.8%) and 3,778 were female (37.2%).
Popularity
Hollis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hollis from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,875 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Hollis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hollis 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 Hollis 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 39 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Hollis, while Vermont, South Dakota, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 307 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hollis
The name Hollis has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the combination of the words "hol" meaning hollow or hole, and "leah" meaning a meadow or clearing in a forest. It likely emerged as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a hollow or depression in a meadow or woodland area.
The earliest recorded use of Hollis as a given name dates back to the 13th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Hollis of Ermington, a landholder in Devon, England, mentioned in records from around 1275.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Hollis Ayloffe was recorded as a landowner and member of the gentry in Berkshire, England. He lived during the reign of King Edward III, circa 1330-1380.
During the English Renaissance, Hollis Greville (1554-1619) was a prominent figure, serving as a member of Parliament and courtier to Queen Elizabeth I. He was also a patron of the arts and a supporter of the Virginia Company, which established the first permanent English settlement in North America.
In the 17th century, Hollis Frampton (1636-1701) was an English politician and member of the House of Commons, representing the borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis.
Another notable bearer of the name was Hollis French (1779-1849), an American politician and lawyer who served as the 22nd Governor of New Hampshire from 1831 to 1838.
While the name Hollis has historically been more common in English-speaking countries, it has also been used in other cultures and languages over time, likely adopted from its English origins.
People
Hollis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hollis 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
Hollis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hollis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,810 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hollis 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 29,022 US residents.
Is Hollis a common name?
We classify Hollis as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,037 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hollis most popular?
The single biggest year for Hollis was 2024, when 396 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hollis is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hollis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,161 people with the name Hollis, or 3.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,441 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 Hollis 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 Hollis?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hollis on both sides of the split. Of the 10,157 people counted with this name, 6,379 were male (62.8%) and 3,778 were female (37.2%). 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 Hollis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hollis is White at 77.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.5%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Hollis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hollis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.3% (7,852 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 Hollis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hollis a male name?
Yes, 74.9% of people registered as Hollis in the SSA data are male. 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 Hollis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hollis 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 Hollis 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 Hollis?
You can see how many people share the name Hollis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.