girl's name
Mollie
MOL-ee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 68,245
Northern Ireland
#52
2024 births
Mollie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, a diminutive of Mary reached through a chain of medieval sound shifts. It ranks 52nd in Northern Ireland and is falling from a peak our records place in 1915.
- Mollie is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1915, when 738 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 15,638 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Mollie over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,471 |
| 1890s | 3,609 |
| 1900s | 3,480 |
| 1910s | 5,789 |
| 1920s | 4,501 |
| 1930s | 2,780 |
| 1940s | 2,314 |
| 1950s | 2,018 |
| 1960s | 1,459 |
| 1970s | 2,131 |
| 1980s | 3,530 |
| 1990s | 4,659 |
| 2000s | 3,945 |
| 2010s | 3,274 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,250 |
What Mollie means
Mollie inherits the meaning of Mary, which has never been settled. Bitter, beloved and drop of the sea have all been proposed for the Hebrew Miriam, and none of them can be demonstrated.
Where Mollie comes from
Mollie descends from Mary through a well-documented sequence: Mary gave Mally, and medieval English regularly swapped r for l in pet forms, then Mally gave Molly by the same rounding that turned Sally out of Sarah and Hal out of Harry. Mary itself comes through the Greek Maria from the Hebrew Miriam, whose meaning is genuinely unknown — bitter, from marah, is the traditional guess; rebellious and beloved have been proposed; and stella maris, star of the sea, is a mistranslation from Jerome that stuck for over a thousand years. Mollie with the -ie ending is the older written form and was standard in Ireland and Britain before Molly overtook it. In eighteenth and nineteenth-century English, Molly also carried slang senses that the name has long since shed.
Mollie in use
Mollie ranks 52nd in Northern Ireland with 36 births in 2024 and 86th in Ireland, holding better in both than in Britain, where the Molly spelling takes most of the demand — Mollie sits at 242nd in England and Wales. Our records mark it falling from a peak in 1915 and carry it from 1880, so its current position in the North reflects a revival of the older spelling rather than continuous use.
How popular is Mollie?
In 2025, Mollie was given to 212 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Mollie is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Mollie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Mollie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Mollie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Mollie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Mollie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Mollie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Mollie
What does the name Mollie mean?
It inherits Mary's meaning, which is unsettled — bitter, beloved and rebellious have all been proposed for the Hebrew Miriam.
Is Mollie short for Mary?
Yes, by way of Mally and Molly. Medieval English regularly swapped r for l in pet forms.
Is Mollie or Molly the older spelling?
Mollie is the older written form. Molly overtook it in the twentieth century.
Does Mary mean star of the sea?
No. That reading comes from a mistranslation by Jerome and is not the name's derivation.
How popular is the name Mollie?
In 2025, Mollie was given to 212 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Is Mollie a girl's or a boy's name?
Mollie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Mollie?
Mollie has 2 syllables.
When was Mollie most popular?
Mollie peaked in 1915, when 738 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
Is Mollie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Mollie currently ranks #52 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.