# Holmes (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/holmes/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “islet” |
| Pronunciation | /hoʊmz/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 610 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 610 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From holme, variant of holm (“islet”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 9 | 2,660 |
| 1951 | 9 | 2,752 |
| 1953 | 9 | 2,795 |
| 1954 | 7 | 3,284 |
| 1955 | 8 | 3,073 |
| 1956 | 7 | 3,343 |
| 1968 | 6 | 3,887 |
| 1970 | 5 | 5,024 |
| 1971 | 5 | 5,223 |
| 1980 | 5 | 6,640 |
| 2013 | 8 | 9,103 |
| 2019 | 6 | 11,284 |
| 2021 | 5 | 12,831 |
| 2022 | 5 | 13,057 |
| 2024 | 6 | 11,445 |

## People named Holmes

- Holmes Herbert, British actor (1882–1956)
- Holmes Osborne, American actor
- Carlos Holmes Trujillo, Colombian lawyer and politician
- Holmes Rolston III, American philosopher
- Sterling Morrison, American musician (1942–1995)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.