Meaning and background
The story behind Holy
Holy is an English adjective whose established senses include sacredness, dedication to religious practice and qualities considered divine. It also appears in emphatic expressions such as 'holy smoke'. As a dog name it reads as a deliberately chosen English word rather than an inherited given name. The word's religious senses should be handled neutrally, without assuming the owner's beliefs or assigning any virtue to the animal.
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About Holy
Recorded as a dog’s name
Holy appears in 4 dog licence records in the 2022 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
/hoʊli/
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
/hoʊli/ · primary stress on syllable 1HH OW1 L IY0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — all seven available extract years, retrieved 24 October 2026 — Recorded name spellings in NYC licence-period rows, extract years 2016–2018, 2022–2024 and 2026. Evidence selects one stated year per name. Annual snapshots overlap; never sum them as unique dogs. No national popularity, etymology or owner naming-intent claim.
- 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.