Meaning and background
The story behind Molly
Molly developed as a medieval familiar form of Mary and is now also used independently. That relationship is documented, while a single definitive translation of Mary is not supplied here. The British and American reference readings differ in their first vowel. For a dog, Molly provides a full everyday name without requiring Mary as a formal version. Mollie is another spelling to compare if the sound is already settled. Choose the version you want to write repeatedly, because the spoken call may not distinguish them.
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Everyday moments“Molly, come here!”
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About Molly
Recorded as a dog’s name
Molly appears in 258 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
/mɑli/
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
/mɑli/ · primary stress on syllable 1M 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.