Molly (name)


Molly is a diminutive of the feminine name Mary that, like other English hypocorisms in use since the Middle Ages, substituted l for r. Molly evolved from the English diminutive Mally. 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.

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.

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