Name of the Week: Holly

 

 

Origin:

Holly is an evergreen shrub, native to Europe, which is one of the few plants to bear fruit in wintertime. Due to this, the plant has a strong association with winter and Christmas-time.  The association dates back to the Roman festival of Saturnalia, in which the holly was sacred to the god Saturn, and was used to decorate halls and homes, even images of Saturn himself. Holly wreaths were given as gifts.  Similarly, the Ancient Celts revered the Holly King, who ruled the winter months from the summer solstice up until the winter solstice. The Winter Solstice marked the changeover from the Holly King's rule (the waning year) to the Oak King's (the waxing year).  Holly has been also used as a Christmas decoration in Britain for centuries. Today it is found most commonly in holly boughs or wreaths. In some parts of England the old custom dictated that holly be left up in the house until Candlemas in February. To take it down earlier was considered unlucky. This tradition relates back to the ancient practice of bringing evergreen plants indoors to give shelter to the spirits of nature who would bless the home. In many parts of Europe the holly's evergreen properties were thought to ward off evil spirits, and so was used to decorate doorways and window-frames.  In some traditions in Britain, certain types of holly was referred to as "he" or "she". Prickly leaves were considered to be male, while smooth leaves were female. The type of leaf that was brought into the home first at Christmastime was considered to determine whether the man or the woman would rule the home in the new year.  The common name of holly derives from the Old English holegn "holly," from Proto-Germanic *hulin-, cognate with the Welsh celyn and Gaelic cuilionn "holly." The most likely source of these is the Proto-Indo-European root *kel- "to prick," in reference to the plant's leaves.  In Victorian floriography, the holly represented foresight.  The surname Holly/Holley derives from three different sources: the habitational surname from the Old English hol and lēah meaning "dweller by the clearing in the hollow"; the descriptive hol-ēage "hollow-eye"; and also (along with Hollis, Hollins and Holling) from Old English holegn itself meaning "dweller by the holly."

Usage:

Holly was first used as a given name in the 17th century. It was unisex in use, most likely thanks to adoption of the surname Holly.  It continued to be used as a unisex name in the 19th century. However, as most births in England and Wales for Holly from 1838 were registered mostly in the Jan-Mar quarter, followed by the Oct-Dec quarter, this suggests that the inspiration for the name was increasingly the holly shrub and its strong winter associations. If a child at this time had been born at Christmas, the name would not likely have appeared in the official register until January, explaining the high number of births in the January-March quarter.  As the 19th century progressed, the name became used more and more for girls as a first name, as UK census records show: 1841: 4 male; 8 female 1851: 4 male; 5 female 1861: 4 male; 3 female 1871: 9 male; 34 female 1881: 10 male; 49 female 1891: 31 male; 113 female 1901: 50 male; 159 female Births for Holly in England and Wales show how it reached a peak in the 1890 to 1910: a period when botanical names where at the height of fashion.  1840s: 1850s: 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s:  1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 4 births 1 birth 8 births 27 births 83 births 177 births 218 births 156 births 65 births 13 births 36 births 71 births 210 births This corresponds to Leslie Dunkling's sample for girls named Holly and Hollie in every 10,000 births:   1900 1925 1935 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 Holly   1   2    -    -    -    -    -    -    7    6   56   82 Hollie   -   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   20   26 The revamp in the 1960s may well have been influenced by the film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) staring Audrey Hepburn as iconic character Holly Golightly. Holly first entered the top 100 in England and Wales in 1984 at #59, rising to #22 in 1994 when the spelling Hollie also ranked #72.  Since that time, both Holly and Hollie have stayed in the top 100. Holly peaked in 2002 at #12 and Hollie peaked at #54 in 2012.  In 2015, Holly ranked #44 (1248 births) and Hollie ranked #94 (589 births) in England and Wales. With all the variant spellings added together, Holly et al ranked #35 overall.  Since 1996, Holly has ranked in the top 5 names in England and Wales for December: Dec 1996: #2; Dec 1997: #2; Dec 1998: #4; Dec 1999: #2; Dec 2000: #2; Dec 2001: #1; Dec 2002: #1; Dec 2003: #1; Dec 2004: #1; Dec 2005: #1; Dec 2006: #1; Dec 2007: #1; Dec 2008: #1; Dec 2009: #1; Dec 2010: #1; Dec 2011: #2; Dec 2012: #3; Dec 2013: #5; Dec 2014: #5 In Scotland, Holly was first in the top 100 in 1985 at #91 and Hollie reached #92 in 1992. Holly peaked in 2002 at #15 (320 births) and Hollie peaked in 2014 at #42 (113 births). In 2015, Holly ranked #31 (157 births) and Hollie ranked #42 (112 births).

Famous Bearers:

Contemporary: * Holly Hunter (b. 1958), American actress. * Holly Robinson Peete (b. 1964), American actress, singer and author. * Holly Black (b. 1971), American writer. * Holly Marie Combs (b. 1973), American actress. * Holly Willoughby (b. 1981), British television presenter. * Holly Valance (b. 1983), Australian actress, singer and model. Literature and Other Media: * Holly Golightly, the heroine in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958), made into a film starring Audrey Hepburn in 1961. * Holly Short, a character in the Artemis Fowl children's book series. * Holly Kennedy, the main character in Cecila Ahern's Novel PS, I Love You (2004), later made into a film starring Hilary Swank.

Variants:

Hollie, Holley, Holli

Pronunciation:

HOL-ee [key]

Possible  longer forms:

Holliday, Hippolyta, Holda, Yolantha, Iolanthe

Sibling Names:

Lucy     Megan     Amy     Grace     Chloe     Emily  Jack     George     Luke     Adam     Lewis     Max

Name Lists:

Arboreal Names

  

If you like Holly you may also like:   Ebony, Ivy, Amber, Molly, Lily, Zoe, Bethany, Georgia, Robyn, Sophie