Surname Spotlight: Holly

Ask a genealogist about Holly and the first name they will mention is Holley. In origin, the name means “Clearing in a hollow”. Holly drops the “e” of Holley, a shortening that clerks often made. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them. Related forms: Holle, Holey and Hollie.

The 2010 census count for Holly in the United States was 8,934, good for rank 3,979. That is enough to place it in the top 5,000 American surnames.

Arms linked to Holley and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. Want more than a summary? See the Holly family name pack.