Molly

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled מולי in IL Israel, PL Poland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 26 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Molly is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name43K records spelled Molly5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Colombia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Spanish, Italian, Romanian

  Also written Mölly

• Hindi given name27K records spelled Molly85 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, United Kingdom, Spain

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Kannada

  Also written Muli, Maali, Mali, Moli, Moly

• Portuguese given name7.5K records spelled Molly4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, Portugal

  Also written Mollÿ, Môlly, Möllÿ

• Polish given name6.5K records spelled Molly39 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Молли, Mollie, Моллі, Moli, Моли

60 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Molly is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A woman or girl, especially of low status.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Molly är en engelsk smekform till → Mary. Namnet har varit ett av de mest populära de senaste decennierna. En känd namnbärare är artisten Molly Sandén (f. 1992). I den finlandssvenska almanackan 15 augusti.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• La que ama la gloria

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• Nube

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• English and Irish: long-established pet form of MARY , representing an altered version of the earlier pet form Mally . The name is chiefly associated with Ireland, although it is not Gaelic. It is at present somewhat out of fashion.

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Molly Piconb. 1898USAmerican actress (1898–1992)
• Molly Kazanb. 1906USAmerican writer
• Molly Petersb. 1942GBBritish actress and model (1942-2017)
• Molly Cheekb. 1950USAmerican actress
• Molly Shannonb. 1964USAmerican actress and comedian (born 1964)
• Molly Ringwaldb. 1968USAmerican actress and writer (born 1968)
• Molly Parkerb. 1972CACanadian actress
• Molly Simsb. 1973USAmerican actress
• Molly Quinnb. 1993USAmerican actress
• Molly Gordonb. 1994USAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,030 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Molly?

We estimate roughly 169 thousand people bear Molly (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Molly have the most bearers?

We estimate about 153 thousand people bear Molly in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled molly.

How common is Molly compared with other names?

In the United States, Molly is the 486th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Molly a male or female name?

Molly is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Molly mean?

Recorded meaning: Long-established pet form of Mary, representing an altered version of the earlier pet form Mally.