Meaning and background
The story behind Holly
Holly is a traditional English botanical given name from the holly tree, an evergreen closely associated with winter and Christmas decoration in Britain. Behind the Name traces the English word back to Old English holen. Its two-syllable pronunciation is familiar in everyday speech. The plant origin is clear, while claims that the name literally means protection, luck or bravery need separate evidence and should not be attached as historical fact.
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Everyday moments“Holly, come here!”
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About Holly
Recorded as a dog’s name
Holly appears in 79 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/hɑli/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/hɑli/ · primary stress on syllable 1HH AA1 L IY0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.