Holly (name)
Holly is an English-language surname and given name.
Holly is known as an English or Irish surname (variant Holley) it is either locational, ultimately derived from the Old English hol lēah "[dwelling by] the clearing by the hollow", or descriptive, from hol-ēage "hollow-eyed". In Ireland, it was also used as a translation of the name Mac Cuilinn, which is derived from cuileann, the Gaelic name of the holly tree, and by extension sometimes of the similar-sounding McQuillan surname of Ulster.[1] The masculine names Holly, Hollie were derived from the surname, but have mostly fallen out of use since the mid 20th century due to the rise in popularity of the feminine name. Hollis is an English surname derived from a Middle English holis "[dwelling by] holly trees"; it was also used as a masculine given name.
Holly (variants Hollie, Holley) was first used as a feminine given name in the 20th century, as a "botanical" name given to girls, in reference to, or at least secondarily associated with, the holly tree. While the feminine name is on record in the United States since the 1930s, its surge in popularity was due to Holly Golightly, the socialite protagonist in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958), which was made into a film starring Audrey Hepburn in 1961. The name of this character is stated to be short for Holiday (rather than a reference to the plant).[2] The name peaked in popularity in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, and has declined since, ranking at #380 in the United States as of 2009.[3] It was popularly given in England and Wales during the 2000s, staying in the top 30 girls' names throughout 1996–2012, with a peak at rank #12 in 2002 (and dropping to rank #33 as of 2013).[4] A tendency to give the name to girls born on or near Christmas has also been observed.[5] More recent eccentric spellings of the feminine name include Holli (1970s), Holleigh, Hollee, Hollye.[6]
Surname
- Birdsill Holly (1820–1894), American inventor
- Alanson Holly (1810-1882), American politician
- Anton Holly (1875–1932), American politician
- Ed Holly (1879–1973), American baseball player
- Buddy Holly (1936–1959), American rock and roll musician
- Lauren Holly (b. 1963), American actress
- Daven Holly (b. 1982), American football player
- Christy Holly (b. 1984/85), Northern Ireland footballer and football coach
Pseudonym
- The Holly Cousins, a kayfabe family in American professional wrestling:
- Hardcore Holly (born 1963)
- Crash Holly (1971–2003)
- Molly Holly (born 1977)
Given name
Feminine
| Gender | feminine |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Word/name | plant name |
- Holley Rubinsky (b. 1943), Canadian-American fiction writer
- Holly Black (b. 1971), American writer (Spiderwick Chronicles)
- Holly Cairns (b. 1989), Irish Social Democrat politician
- Holly Cole (b. 1963), Canadian jazz singer
- Holly Marie Combs (b. 1973), American actress
- Holly Dorger, American ballet dancer
- Holly Dunn (1957–2016), American country music singer-songwriter
- Holly Earl (b. 1992), British actress
- Holley Fain (b. 1981), American actress
- Holly Glynn (1966–1987), formerly unidentified American woman
- Holly Golightly Smith (b. 1966), British singer and songwriter
- Holly Holyoake (b. 1988), Welsh soprano
- Holly Hamilton, British journalist and presenter
- Holly Harris (born 2002), Australian figure skater
- Holly Hunter (b. 1958), American actress
- Holly Jack, Scottish actress and acting coach
- Holly Jones, American restoration ecologist and conservation biologist
- Holly Krieger, American mathematician
- Holly Lincoln (b. 1985), Canadian soccer forward
- Holly Madison, (b. 1979), American model
- Holley Mangold (b. 1989), American athlete
- Holly Miranda (b. 1983), American singer
- Holly Palance (b. 1950), American actress, daughter of veteran actor Jack Palance
- Holly Robinson Peete (b. 1964), American actress, singer and author
- Holly Piirainen (1983–1993), American murder victim
- Holly Ross, English musician
- Holly Roth (born 1916), American crime writer who disappeared at sea
- Holly Valance (née Vukadinović, b. 1983), Australian-British actress, singer and model
- Holly Walsh (b. 1980), British comedian
- Holly Willoughby (b. 1981), British television presenter
Pseudonym
- Holly Golightly (comics), American comic book writer and artist
- Holly Sampson, American porn performer
- Holly Woodlawn, Puerto Rican actress
Fictional characters
- Holly Golightly, the heroine in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958), made into a film starring Audrey Hepburn in 1961.
- Holly Gennero-MaClane, a character from the Die Hard franchise (1988)
- Holly Hobbie, American children character and pseudonym of the author (Denise Holly Ulinskas)
- Holly Robinson, DC Comics character and a frequent ally and sidekick of Catwoman (1987)
- Holly J. Sinclair, a fictional character in Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001)
- Holly Short, a character in the Artemis Fowl children's book series (2001)
- Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotten in Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949)
- Holly (Red Dwarf), a central character on the British TV series Red Dwarf (1988) — the character is a computer and was played by a male actor in the first two seasons, but by a female actor in later series
- Holly Flax, a character on The Office (2005)
- Holly Holliday, a character from Glee, played by Gwyneth Paltrow (2009)
- Holly Wildwood, a character from Sylvanian Families.
- Holly Vega, a recurring character from the Nickelodeon TV show Victorious
- Holly the Christmas Fairy, a character from the Rainbow Magic book franchise
Masculine
| Gender | masculine |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Word/name | from the surname |
- Holly Broadbent Jr. (1918–2009), American orthodontist
- Holly Broadbent Sr. (1894–1977), American orthodontist
- Holly One (1965–2006), Italian porn star
- Holley Mims (1929–1970), American boxer
- Holly B (1925–2016), Trinidad and Tobago radio and television personality
- Holly Johnson (William Holly Johnson, b. 1960), English singer
- Holly Campbell (1907–1979), American track and field athlete
- Holly Hollingshead (1853–1926), Major League Baseball center fielder
References
- "Holley, a surname of England, Holly of Ireland, from Old English hol and lēah - (dweller by the) clearing in the hollow, or hol and ēage — hollow-eye, a nickname; in Ireland for Mac Cuilinn by translation (Co. Kerry) and an occasional synonym of MacQuillian in Ulster." E. Seary, William Kirwin, Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, 1998, p. 255.
- "A memorable fictional Holly is the enigmatic heroine of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, Holly Golightly (almost named Connie, and with the full name Holiday), played indelibly by Audrey Hepburn." nameberry.com
- U.S. Social Security Administration Baby Names Database http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
- England & Wales Baby Names. "Holly". Englishgirlsnames. Behind the Name. "Holly ranks just outside the British Top 30, but it's been out of favor here since the 1970s Era of Nickname Names." nameberry.com.
- "The name is often given to daughters born on or near Christmas." Think Baby Names. "Jolly Holly has always been favored for girls born around Christmas, evoking the symbolic shrub with dark green leaves and bright red berries." nameberry.com.
- according to thinkbabynames.com. Holleigh, Hollee, Hollye is not recorded in the top 1,000 US statistics, Holli makes a transient appearance in the top 700 in 1970.