Hollis
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Meaning
surname meaning 'dweller by the holly trees'
The story
Hollis first described a person living near holly trees. The English surname grew from Middle English holis, and the evergreen plant still gives the name its quiet landscape. A very different association comes from Hollis, Queens. In the early years of hip-hop, Run-DMC formed there and placed the neighborhood's name inside the music's geography. Their records and image traveled worldwide, but Hollis remained more than a backdrop: it was the home named in the story. The English surname and the Queens neighborhood should not be forced into one origin tale. They simply meet in the modern given name, where a stand of holly and a New York block can occupy the same word. Neither association predicts taste, talent, or hometown. Together they make Hollis unusually visual: glossy leaves that stay green through winter, then three voices and a beat carrying a neighborhood far beyond the city map.
How popular is Hollis around the world?
In the United States, 2,311 babies were named Hollis between 2020 and 2025.
Hollis is on the official records of the United States, Canada and England and Wales.
United States
1 in 9,400
In the United States, 2,311 babies were named Hollis between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Hollis peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Hollis has stayed between 727 and 2,469 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 19,000
In Canada, 11 boys named Hollis were born in 2024, ranked 1,817th among boys that year.
In Canada, 8 girls named Hollis were born in 2024, ranked 2,463rd among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 200,000
In England and Wales, 3 boys named Hollis were born in 2025, ranked 5,137th among boys that year.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Austria
last on record 2024
Hollis is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Hollis
People given the name Hollis in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2019. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Hollis deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Hollis truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Hollis fits with your family’s names and surname.
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