Hollee
A feminine variant of the name Holly, derived from the holly tree.
Name Census estimates that about 700 living Americans carry the first name Hollee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hollee today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hollee births was 1989 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hollee. 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 Hollee with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
700
~ 1 in 489,649 Americans
Peak year
1989
27 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,057
Tracked since 1955
Census
Hollee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 671 people with the first name Hollee, which placed it at #16,695 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
#16,695
National first-name rank
People counted
671
671 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hollee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hollee is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.7%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Hollee 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 Hollee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.5% · 567
- Two or more races6.7% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 24
- Black or African American3.0% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 6
Popularity
Hollee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hollee from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 178 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hollee 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 Hollee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hollees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hollee
The name Hollee is believed to have originated from the Old English word "holih," which means "holy" or "sacred." It is a feminine form of the name Holly, which was derived from the holly plant, a shrub that was considered sacred by the ancient Druids and was used in various pagan rituals and ceremonies.
The earliest recorded use of the name Hollee dates back to the 12th century, when it was used as a variant spelling of Holly. During the Middle Ages, the name was popular among English and Scottish families, particularly in rural areas where the holly plant was abundant.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Hollee was Hollee of Huntingdon, a 13th-century English noblewoman who was known for her philanthropic work and her support for the construction of several churches and monasteries in the county of Huntingdonshire.
In the 16th century, the name Hollee gained popularity among Puritan families in England and New England, who saw it as a symbol of purity and righteousness. One notable bearer of the name was Hollee Winthrop, the daughter of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She was born in 1631 and played an influential role in the early development of the colony.
During the Victorian era, the name Hollee became fashionable among the upper classes in Britain and the United States. One famous bearer of the name was Hollee Nightingale (1820-1910), the pioneering English nurse who is widely regarded as the founder of modern nursing. Her work during the Crimean War and her efforts to improve healthcare standards earned her widespread admiration and respect.
In the 20th century, the name Hollee continued to be popular, particularly in the United States. One notable bearer was Hollee Berry (born 1966), the American actress and former fashion model who became the first African American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 2001 film "Monster's Ball."
Other notable figures with the name Hollee include Hollee Hunter (born 1958), the American actress known for her roles in films such as "The Piano" and "The Firm"; Hollee Golightly (1929-2015), the American singer and actress who starred in the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's"; and Hollee Madison (born 1979), the American model and television personality who was one of the stars of the reality TV series "The Girls Next Door."
People
Hollee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hollee 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
Hollee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hollee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 700 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hollee 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 489,649 US residents.
Is Hollee a common name?
We classify Hollee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 743 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hollee most popular?
The single biggest year for Hollee was 1989, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hollee is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hollee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 671 people with the name Hollee, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,695 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 Hollee 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 Hollee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hollee appears almost entirely female. Of the 669 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Hollee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hollee is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.7%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Hollee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hollee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (567 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 Hollee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hollee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hollee 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 Hollee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hollee 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 Hollee 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 have Hollee as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Hollee, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.