Sollie
A feminine diminutive variation of the English name "Solace", meaning comfort or consolation.
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Sollie. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sollie today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sollie births was 1916 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sollie. 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 Sollie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Sollie is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Sollies were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sollie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
1916
16 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1954 SSA rank
#4,302
Tracked since 1896
Census
Sollie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 101 people with the first name Sollie, which placed it at #53,227 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
#53,227
National first-name rank
People counted
101
101 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sollie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sollie is Black at 47.5%. The next largest groups are White (43.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Sollie 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 Sollie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.5% · 48
- White43.6% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 4
- Two or more races4.0% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 1
Popularity
Sollie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sollie from the 1890s through to the 1950s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 94 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sollie 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 Sollie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sollies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sollie
The name Sollie is believed to have its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic peoples who inhabited Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe during the Viking Age. It is thought to be a diminutive form of the name Solbjorn, which means "sun bear" or "bright bear."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sollie can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of historical and literary works that date back to the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas often mention individuals with names that reflect the Norse traditions and beliefs, including those related to animals and natural elements like the sun.
In the 16th century, a Norwegian explorer and navigator named Sollie Eriksson is believed to have been one of the first Europeans to sight the coast of Antarctica. He was part of a Dutch expedition led by Jacob le Maire and Willem Schouten, which circumnavigated the globe between 1615 and 1617.
During the 17th century, a Swedish soldier and military engineer named Sollie Cronstedt (1647-1719) played a significant role in the Great Northern War. He was responsible for fortifying several strategic locations in Sweden and was recognized for his contributions to the country's defense.
In the 19th century, a Norwegian artist named Sollie Schjelderup (1826-1886) gained recognition for his landscape paintings and depictions of rural life in Norway. His works are considered important examples of the National Romantic movement in Scandinavian art.
Another notable figure with the name Sollie was a Danish composer and organist, Sollie Mathiesen (1805-1886). He composed numerous works for the organ and was known for his contributions to church music in Denmark during the Romantic period.
While the name Sollie is not as common today as it once was in Scandinavia, it remains a part of the cultural heritage and linguistic traditions of the region. Its connection to the Old Norse language and the Viking Age provides a glimpse into the rich history and mythology of the Germanic peoples who inhabited northern Europe in ancient times.
People
Sollie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sollie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sollie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sollie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sollie 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Sollie a common name?
We classify Sollie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 269 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sollie most popular?
The single biggest year for Sollie was 1916, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sollie is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sollie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 101 people with the name Sollie, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #53,227 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 Sollie 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 Sollie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sollie leans strongly male. 86 people counted with this name were male (81.9%), compared with 19 female bearers (18.1%). 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 Sollie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sollie is Black at 47.5%. The next largest groups are White (43.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Sollie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sollie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.5% (48 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 Sollie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sollie a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sollie 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 Sollie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sollie 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 Sollie 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 share the name Sollie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.