How rare is the name Dolly?

10,079 people in the United States have the first name Dolly, about 1 in 29,966. It ranks #2,455 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

DOLLY

#2,455

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
10,079
About
1 in 29,966
This common or more
79.8%
Who bears it

Of the 10,079 people named Dolly, 56.4% reported their origin as White, 13.8% as Hispanic or Latino and 12.8% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Virtually all are female (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Dolly peaked in 1926, when 395 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1926
Births that year
395
In 2025*
113 ▼71%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 20,636 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Dolly by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1900s, when it ranked #521. The largest share of babies named Dolly, 30.1%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#584402
1890s#577600
1900s#521986
1910s#6392,420
1920s#6433,679
1930s#6573,210
1940s#8592,543
1950s#1,0442,422
1960s#1,4581,464
1970s#2,030940
1980s#3,305527
1990s#5,873313
2000s#11,656164
2010s#7,409336
2020s#3,446630
Before 19015.3%
Greatest Generation 1901–2730.1%
Silent Generation 1928–4526.6%
Baby boom 1946–6421%
Generation X 1965–807.9%
Millennials 1981–963.4%
Generation Z 1997–121.4%
2013 and later4.4%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Dolly is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Dolly has been most common in West Virginia (6.1×), Kentucky (2.8×), and Virginia (2.4×), and least common in Wisconsin (0.13×).

14,004 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Dolly

#2,453 Tai · 10,097#2,454 Noelia · 10,088#2,456 Marlen · 10,077#2,457 Rahul · 10,064

Spelled almost the same

One first name in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Dolly, most common first.

#38,893 Doll · 196

Also a last name

As a last name, Dolly ranks #19,876 of 156,621, with 1,355 people. See Dolly as a last name

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