Polly: name meaning, origin & popularity
- Meaning
- “bitter”
- Origin
- English
- Say it
- PAHL-ee · 2 syllables
- Used for
- Girls
Polly is an English pet form of Mary, developed through the medieval nickname Molly and rhyming alteration. It therefore shares Mary's traditional meaning, often given as 'bitter' or 'beloved' by different interpretations.
How popular is Polly?
Babies named Polly in 202486
2024 rank#2,189 girls
Peak year1881
Total US babies since 188029,624
Polly is rising: use over the last five years is 1.7× what it was a decade earlier.
Names like Polly
Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.
Polly questions
What does the name Polly mean?
Polly means "bitter". It comes from English. Polly is an English pet form of Mary, developed through the medieval nickname Molly and rhyming alteration. It therefore shares Mary's traditional meaning, often given as 'bitter' or 'beloved' by different interpretations.
Is Polly a boy or girl name?
Polly is mainly a girl's name in US records (100% of uses since 1880).
How popular is Polly?
86 US babies were named Polly in 2024. Its peak year was 1881.
How do you pronounce Polly?
Polly is usually pronounced PAHL-ee.
Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.