Holly.
A female given name from English.
Meaning & usage
A female given name from English.
A topographic surname from Middle English.
A male given name transferred from the surname.
A place in the United States: A town in Prowers County, Colorado, named after cattleman Hiram S. Holly.
A place in the United States: A township and village therein, in Oakland County, Michigan.
A place in the United States: A township in Murray County, Minnesota, named after settler John Z. Holly.
A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Houston County, Texas.
A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Kitsap County, Washington, named for a large holly tree.
A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Kanawha County, West Virginia.
Where this word comes from
* As an Irish surname, calque of mac cuilinn (“holly”) (see McCullen) and sometimes McQuillan. * As an English surname, variant of Holley. * As a Czech and Slovak surname, variant of Holý, Holy. * Also as a locational English surname, from Old English hol leah (“wood, clearing, meadow”), compare Hollywood. * Also as an English surname, short form of Holiday. * Also as an English surname, after the holly tree. * As a feminine given name popularized by Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (especially the 1961 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.