Hally
A modern feminine name of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 665 living Americans carry the first name Hally. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Hally today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hally births was 2000 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hally. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hally with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
665
~ 1 in 515,420 Americans
Peak year
2000
29 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
1916 SSA rank
#4,170
Tracked since 1916
Census
Hally in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 847 people with the first name Hally, which placed it at #14,029 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,029
National first-name rank
People counted
847
847 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hally
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hally is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hally described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hally at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.1% · 602
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 109
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 52
- Black or African American5.9% · 50
- Two or more races2.7% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Hally
Out of the 707 babies given the name Hally since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Hally as a male name
- Ranked #4,170 in 1916
- 5 male births in 1916
- Peak: 1916 (5 births)
Hally as a female name
- Ranked #9,121 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hally leans strongly female. 809 people counted with this name were female (95.4%), compared with 39 male bearers (4.6%).
Popularity
Hally: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hally from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 218 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hally by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Hally during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hallys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hally
The name Hally is believed to have originated from the Old English language, specifically in the regions of England and Wales during the medieval period. It is thought to be a diminutive form of the name Halldora, which is derived from the Old Norse words "hallr" meaning "rock" and "dora" meaning "gift".
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hally can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry mentions a landowner named Hally de Cawston, residing in the village of Cawston, Norfolk.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Hally de Baskerville was a Norman knight who accompanied King Richard I on the Third Crusade. Hally is mentioned in several chronicles of the time as a valiant warrior who fought alongside the King during the siege of Acre in 1191.
During the Renaissance period, Hally Willoughby (1472-1528) was a prominent English courtier who served under King Henry VII and King Henry VIII. She was known for her influential role in the royal court and her patronage of the arts.
In the 17th century, Hally Parnell (1637-1705) was an English poet and satirist who gained recognition for his biting political commentary. His works, such as "An Essay on the Different Styles of Poetry" and "The Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ," earned him a reputation as one of the leading literary figures of his time.
Another notable figure with the name Hally was Hally Tonna (1789-1854), a renowned English writer and philanthropist. She was a prolific author of religious and moral works, including "Personal Recollections" and "Hints on the Formation of Religious Opinions". Tonna was also actively involved in various charitable organizations, advocating for the welfare of the poor and underprivileged.
People
Hally + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hally as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hally: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hally?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 665 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hally going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 515,420 US residents.
Is Hally a common name?
We classify Hally as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 707 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hally most popular?
The single biggest year for Hally was 2000, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hally is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hally in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 847 people with the name Hally, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,029 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hally in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hally?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hally leans strongly female. 809 people counted with this name were female (95.4%), compared with 39 male bearers (4.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hally?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hally is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hally most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hally in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.1% (602 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Hally in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hally a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Hally in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Hally still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hally in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Hally can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Hally?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.