Molly (name)

Last updated
Molly
Molly Malone Statue, Dublin City Centre - geograph.org.uk - 5272963.jpg
A statue of folk song heroine Molly Malone in Dublin, Ireland.
Pronunciation /ˈmɒli/
GenderFemale
Language(s)Irish and English
Other names
Alternative spelling
  • Mollie
  • Moli
Nickname(s)
  • Mols
  • Mol
Derived
Molly Pitcher is a heroine of the American Revolutionary War. Molly Pitcher currier ives.jpg
Molly Pitcher is a heroine of the American Revolutionary War.
Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, who was later called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." Margaret Brown, 3qtr view, with chair.jpg
Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, who was later called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
Molly Malone was the stage name of American silent film actress Violet Isabel Malone. Molly Malone (Sep 1921).png
Molly Malone was the stage name of American silent film actress Violet Isabel Malone.

Molly (also spelled Molli or Mollie) is a diminutive of the feminine name Mary that, like other English diminutives in use since the Middle Ages, substituted l for r. English surnames such as Moll, Mollett, and Mollison are derived from Molly. Molly has also been used as a diminutive of Margaret and Martha since the 1700s and as an independent name since at least 1720. The name was more popular in the United States than elsewhere in the Anglosphere in the 1800s due to usage by Irish-American families and by Jewish American families who used Molly as an English version of Hebrew names such as Miriam and Malka. Its popularity with Americans was also influenced by stories about Molly Pitcher, a heroine of the American Revolutionary War. [1]

Contents

Usage

The name has been among the 1,000 most popular names for girls in the United States since 1880 and was among the 100 most popular names for American girls at different times between 1987 and 2012. It has been among the 100 most popular names for newborn girls in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United Kingdom since the 1990s, and in Denmark since 2019. It was among the top 100 names for girls in some Canadian provinces between 2007 and 2011. [2]

People

Women

Fictional characters

In television and film

In books and comics

Animals

See also

Notes

  1. Evans, Cleveland Kent (24 September 2023). "Cleveland Evans: Molly peaked with millennials". omaha.com. Omaha World Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  2. Campbell, Mike. "Molly". www.behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 20 January 2024.

Related Research Articles

Sharon, also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as an Israeli surname.

Julia is a usually feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. The given name Julia had been in use throughout Late Antiquity but became rare during the Middle Ages, and was revived only with the Italian Renaissance. It became common in the English-speaking world only in the 18th century. Today, it is frequently used throughout the world.

Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beatrice. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was more often a diminutive of Bethia.

Amy is an English feminine given name, the English version of the French Aimée, which means beloved. It was used as a diminutive of the Latin name Amata, a name derived from the passive participle of amare, “to love”. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the Middle Ages. It was among the 50 most popular names for girls in England between 1538 and 1700. It was popularized in the 19th century in the Anglosphere by a character in Sir Walter Scott's 1821 novel Kenilworth, which was based on the story of Amy Robsart. Enslaved Black women in the United States prior to the American Civil War were more likely to bear the name than white American women because slave masters often chose their names from literary sources. The name declined in use after 1880 but was revived due to the hit song Once in Love with Amy from the 1948 Broadway musical Where's Charley?. The name peaked in usage in the United States between 1973 and 1976, when it was among the five most popular names for American girls. It remained among the top 250 names for American girls in the early 2020s.

Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly. Polly may also be a short form of names such as Polina, Polona, Pauline, Paula or Paulina.

Ginny or Ginnie is an English feminine given name or diminutive, frequently of Virginia. "Ginny" has also become a long time slang term used in Virginia, and mainly Western Virginia in the very rural areas and deepest hollars in which poverty is very high, and where secondary English is mainly used in everyday communication. Example: "I remember back down in the Ginny, we used to do that all the time."

Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from Koinē Greek: Ἰωάννα, romanized: Iōanna from Hebrew: יוֹחָנָה, romanized: Yôḥānāh, lit. 'God is gracious'. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne.

Libby as a feminine given name is typically a diminutive form of Elizabeth, which is less commonly spelled 'Libbie' or 'Libi'.

Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret, Marigold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret</span> Female given name

Margaret is a feminine given name, meaning "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Old Iranian. It has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became less popular between the 16th and 18th century, but became more common again after this period, becoming the second-most popular female name in the United States in 1903. Since this time, it has become less common, but was still the ninth-most common name for women of all ages in the United States as of the 1990 census.

Peggy is a female first name derived from Meggy, a diminutive version of the name Margaret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel (given name)</span> Name list

Rachel, meaning "ewe", is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin, popularized by the biblical figure Rachel, the wife of Israelite patriarch Jacob.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy (given name)</span> Name list

Dorothy is a female given name. It is the English vernacular form of the Greek Δωροθέα (Dōrothéa) meaning "God's Gift", from δῶρον (dōron), "gift" + θεός (theós), "god".. It has been in use since the 1400s. Although much less common, there are also male equivalents in English such as Dory, from the Greek masculine Δωρόθεος (Dōrótheos). Dorofei is a rarely used Russian male version of the name. The given names Theodore and Theodora are derived from the same two Greek root words as Dorothy, albeit reversed in order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily (given name)</span> Name list

Emily is a feminine given name derived from the Roman family name "Aemilius", and is the feminine form of the name Emil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary (name)</span> Female given name

Mary is a feminine given name, the English form of the name Maria, which was in turn a Latin form of the Greek name Μαρία, María or Μαριάμ, Mariam, found in the Septuagint and New Testament. The latter reflects the original Hebrew pronunciation of the name מרים, as attested by the Septuagint. The vowel "a" in a closed unaccented syllable later became "i", as seen in other names such as "Bil'am" (Balaam) and "Shimshon" (Samson).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeleine (given name)</span> Name list

Madeleine or Madeline is a feminine given name, ultimately of Greek origin. The name exists in various spellings and pronunciations and is popular among those living in Europe and English-speakers, as well as followers of Christianity, as Mary Magdalene was a central figure in the New Testament.

Mandy can be used as a given name, a diminutive, or a nickname, for both female and male genders. It is often used as a diminutive of the female names Amanda and Miranda, as well as being a given name in its own right. It is also used as a diminutive for the masculine names Armand, Armando, Helmand, Mandel, Mansour or Emmanuel. Variants, for both male and female, include Mandi, Mandie, and Manda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose (given name)</span> Name list

Rose is a female given name. It is a late Latin name derived from rosa, meaning "rose". Variants are Rosa, Rosario, Rosie, Rosalba, Rosalie, Rosalia, Rosina, Rosaria, Rosalyn and Rosalina. Similar names are Rosanna and Rosamunde. It may be a short form of Rosemary, Roseanne and Rosemond

Potter is an English surname that originally referred to someone who made pottery. It is occasionally used as a given name. People with the name include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty (given name)</span> Name list

Patty is an English given name that originated as a rhyming diminutive form of names such as Martha via the diminutive Mattie, much in the same way that Peggy was derived as a rhyming variant of Meg or Meggie, an English diminutive of Margaret, and Polly was originally derived as a rhyming variant of Molly, an English diminutive of Mary. The alternation of the letter P with the letter M in these English hypocorisms is not understood. The diminutive was used in Colonial America. It was later used as an English short form of Patricia or, for boys, as a diminutive form of Patrick. It is also in use as an independent name. Spelling variants include Patti and Pattie. Patsy is another related variant. Patty is also in use as a surname with different origins.