# Polly (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/polly/  
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 | girls |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpɒli/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 29,708 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 24 / 29,684 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 5,920, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Nickname for Mary, created by rhyming with Molly.

## 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, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 44 | 3,591 |
| 2012 | 45 | 3,568 |
| 2013 | 44 | 3,561 |
| 2014 | 51 | 3,218 |
| 2015 | 51 | 3,244 |
| 2016 | 51 | 3,214 |
| 2017 | 46 | 3,426 |
| 2018 | 52 | 3,147 |
| 2019 | 49 | 3,262 |
| 2020 | 54 | 3,001 |
| 2021 | 63 | 2,745 |
| 2022 | 68 | 2,597 |
| 2023 | 66 | 2,668 |
| 2024 | 87 | 2,193 |
| 2025 | 79 | 2,318 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 5 | 4,657 |
| 1924 | 8 | 3,437 |
| 1930 | 5 | 4,427 |
| 1931 | 6 | 3,667 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 180 | 272 |
| 2012 | 203 | 250 |
| 2013 | 210 | 238 |
| 2014 | 193 | 254 |
| 2015 | 209 | 236 |
| 2016 | 222 | 234 |
| 2017 | 241 | 216 |
| 2018 | 284 | 184 |
| 2019 | 234 | 211 |
| 2020 | 240 | 205 |
| 2021 | 337 | 156 |
| 2022 | 308 | 160 |
| 2023 | 295 | 175 |
| 2024 | 246 | 200 |
| 2025 | 242 | 204 |

## In other languages

- Welsh: Poli

## People named Polly

- Polly Bergen, American actress (1930-2014)
- Polly Holliday, American actress
- Polly Walker, British actress
- Polly Samson, English novelist, lyricist and journalist
- Polly Moran, Actress, vaudevillian (1883-1952)
- Polly Ann Young, American actress (1908-1997)
- Polly Draper, actress, director, writer, and producer (born 1955)
- Polly Swann, British rower
- Polly Shannon, Canadian actress
- Polly Klaas, American murder victim (1981–1993)
- Polly Adler, American madam and author (1900–1962)
- Polly Toynbee, English journalist and writer

## 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.