Pollyanna
An optimistic and cheerful girl or woman who refuses to be discouraged.
Name Census estimates that about 713 living Americans carry the first name Pollyanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pollyanna today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pollyanna births was 1964 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pollyanna. 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 Pollyanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
713
~ 1 in 480,721 Americans
Peak year
1964
53 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,284
Tracked since 1914
Census
Pollyanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 903 people with the first name Pollyanna, which placed it at #13,389 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
#13,389
National first-name rank
People counted
903
903 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pollyanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pollyanna is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.3%). 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 Pollyanna 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 Pollyanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 703
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 48
- Black or African American5.1% · 46
- Two or more races3.3% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 11
Popularity
Pollyanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pollyanna from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 284 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pollyanna 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 Pollyanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pollyannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Indiana, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Pollyanna, while Kentucky, Indiana, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pollyanna
The name Pollyanna is a feminine given name that is believed to have originated in the late 19th century as a literary creation by American author Eleanor H. Porter. It first appeared in her 1913 novel "Pollyanna," which told the story of a young orphan girl named Pollyanna Whittier who spreads joy and optimism through her philosophy of the "glad game."
The name Pollyanna is a combination of the common nicknames "Polly" and "Anna." Polly is a diminutive form of the name Mary, derived from the Greek name Μαρία (Maria), which in turn comes from the Hebrew name מִרְיָם (Miryam). Anna is a form of the Hebrew name חַנָּה (Channah), meaning "grace" or "favor."
While the name Pollyanna did not exist prior to Porter's novel, it quickly gained popularity as a given name in the early 20th century, particularly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. Its association with the cheerful and optimistic character from the novel likely contributed to its appeal.
Some notable individuals named Pollyanna throughout history include:
1. Pollyanna Woodward (1932-2019), American golfer and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
2. Pollyanna Pickering (born 1964), British artist and wildlife illustrator.
3. Pollyanna McIntosh (born 1979), Scottish actress known for her roles in films like "The Descent" and "The Walking Dead."
4. Pollyanna Yushchenko (born 1979), Ukrainian-American activist and the wife of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
5. Pollyanna Pickering (born 1988), English author and illustrator of children's books.
While the name Pollyanna may have started as a literary creation, it has since become a recognizable and enduring given name, particularly in the English-speaking world. Its association with optimism and joy has likely contributed to its lasting appeal.
People
Pollyanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pollyanna as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pollyanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pollyanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 713 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pollyanna 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 480,721 US residents.
Is Pollyanna a common name?
We classify Pollyanna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,110 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pollyanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Pollyanna was 1964, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pollyanna is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pollyanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 903 people with the name Pollyanna, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,389 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 Pollyanna 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 Pollyanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pollyanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 892 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Pollyanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pollyanna is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.3%). 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 Pollyanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pollyanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (703 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 Pollyanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pollyanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pollyanna 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 Pollyanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pollyanna 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 Pollyanna 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 Pollyanna?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.