Girls' name · peaked in 1881

Polly name popularity since 1925

24,336 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Polly. Half of them were born in 1954 or earlier, so the typical Polly is about 72 years old in 2026. Polly peaked in 1881 as the #225 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 24,336; Named Polly, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1881; #225 for girls that year
Typical age: About 72; Median birth year 1954
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #2,318 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 100.0% girls; 24,325 girls · 11 boys
Most popular in: Kentucky; 2.88× its national share

Peak year is the year Polly made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Polly births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year on this chart was 1964. Measured as a share of all babies, Polly peaked earlier, in 1881.

Steepest fall: Between 1971 and 1976, Polly's share of baby girls fell by 54%, from 1 in 5,400 to 1 in 11,700.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Polly's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Polly.

Decade by decade

Babies named Polly in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	1,774	0	–
1930s	3,864	11	#324
1940s	4,301	0	#343
1950s	5,068	0	#360
1960s	5,030	0	#453
1970s	1,967	0	#867
1980s	689	0	#1,736
1990s	425	0	#3,006
2000s	322	0	#3,449
2010s	468	0	#3,244
2020–25	417	0	#2,318

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

40.9% of babies named Polly from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:

Where Polly is most popular

The index compares Polly's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Polly.

State	Index	Babies
Kentucky	2.88×	982
Arkansas	2.49×	520
West Virginia	2.48×	444
Mississippi	2.40×	593
North Carolina	2.35×	1,357

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Polly's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Polly.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Polly (1881).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data