Holly

The name derives from the Old English holegn, the word for the spiny evergreen shrub. It entered English usage during the late Victorian vogue for plant names alongside Hazel and Ivy. American records first logged the name in 1880, though it lingered near the bottom of national counts until the mid-twentieth century, when Truman Capote's 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany's helped lift it into wider circulation.

The name reads as bright, organized, and closely tied to early-1980s homerooms. Hearing it tends to bring to mind three-ring binders, label makers, and station wagons with simulated wood siding. With the average bearer now forty-six years old, the name is overwhelmingly adult, split almost evenly between Generation X and the older half of the Millennial generation. The botanical root suggests winter greenery, but in practice it behaves like someone who brought extra dry-erase markers to an eight-thirty meeting.