Molly

Diminutive of Mary, Hebrew
"bitter"

Molly Origin and Meaning

The name Molly is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "bitter".

Molly is one of the original nickname names, ALWAYS ranking among the US Top 500 girl names since statistics began, in 1880. Molly peaked in 1991 only to rise just as high again in 2011, and though softening retains a good measure of popularity and charm.

What is Molly short for? Molly originated as a diminutive of Mary, spawning from medieval variations Malle and Molle. Molly has been used as a stand-alone pet form of Mary since the Middle Ages, and has been consistently popular as an independent name in the U.S. over the past several decades.

Likable and down-to-earth, mild yet saucy, Molly has a distinctly Irish feel as well, with such Gaelic associations as 'Sweet Molly Malone' and the martyred reformers known as the Molly Maguires. In the Jewish culture, Molly Goldberg was an early television personality.

Other references include the Revolutionary War heroine Molly Pitcher and the Molly Bloom character in James Joyce's Ulysses, as well as characters in novels by Fielding, Hardy, George Eliot, Dickens and Thackeray. More recently, "Good Golly, Miss Molly" was a Little Richard hit and Molly Ringwald a celebrity bearer.

Amanda Peet is the mother of a Molly, as are Monica Potter and Veronica Webb.

# 208 in the US

Molly Rank in US Top 1000

# 122 on Nameberry

Molly Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Molly Popularity

Famous People Named Molly

  • Molly Kathleen Ringwald
    American actress
  • Molly Caitlyn Quinn
    American actress
  • Molly Helen Shannon
    American actress and comedienne
  • Molly Sims
    American actress and model
  • Margaret "Molly" Brown ("The Unsinkable")
    American Titanic survivor
  • Molly Pitcher
    heroine in the American Revolution
  • Molly Joan Hagan
    American actress
  • Molly Neuman
    musician of American band Bratmobile
  • Molly Williams
    America's first female firefighter
  • Molly Holly
    ring name of Nora Kristina Greenwald, American pro wrestler
  • Molly Parker
    Canadian actress
  • Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins
    American newspaper columnist
  • Molly Alice Smitten
    Downes, English singer,songwriter
  • Molly Kathleen Burnett
    American actress
  • Molly Hunt
    American singer,songwriter known as Svrcina
  • Molly Ariel
    daughter of actress Cybill Shepherd; twin of Cyrus Zachariah
  • Molly Gallagher
    daughter of British musician Liam Gallagher
  • Molly June Benioff (b. 2010)
    Daughter of actors Amanda Peet and David Benioff
  • Molly Sullivan Manno (b. 2016)
    daughter of American television personality, correspondent, host, spokesperson and blogger Ali Fedotowsky and American television and radio host Kevin Manno
  • Molly Burke
    blind YouTube vlogger

Molly in Pop Culture

  • Molly Malone
    Irish folk heroine
  • Mollysoda
    internet personality and artist
  • Molly Jean McIntire
    character in the American Girl series
  • Molly Weasley
    character in the Harry Potter series
  • Molly Hooper
    character on TV's "Sherlock"
  • Molly Dobbs
    character on British soap "Coronation Street"
  • Molly Flynn
    Biggs, main character on TV's "Mike & Molly"
  • Molly Moon
    book series by Georgia Byng
  • Molly Morgan
    a main character on TV's "The Torkelsons"
  • Molly Phillips
    main character on TV's "So Weird"
  • Molly O'Brien
    character on TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
  • Molly Walker
    character on TV's "Heroes"
  • Molly
    character in musical "Annie"
  • Molly Finch
    character in the game "What Remains of Edith Finch"
  • Molly Gunn
    main character in the movie "Uptown Girls"
  • Molly Jones
    character in the Beatles song "Ob,La,Di, Ob,La,Da"
  • Molly Lansing
    Davis, character on soap "General Hospital"
  • Molly Goldberg
    main character on TV, radio, and movie "The Goldbergs"
  • Molly McKay
    main character in 1999 movie "Molly"
  • Molly Parker
    character on TV's "The Facts of Life"
  • Molly the Dolly
    character on TV's "The Big Comfy Couch"
  • Molly Baker
    character in anime 'Sailor Moon'
  • Molly Zane
    character in the series 'Fallen' by Lauren Kate
  • Marion "Molly" Bloom
    character in James Joyce's "Ulysses"
  • Molly Fitzgerald aka Shamrock
    character in Marvel Comics
  • Eva "Molly" Wei
    character in anime "Ōban Star,Racers"
  • Milly
    Molly,Mandy, character in children's books by Joyce Lankester Brisley
  • Molly Millions
    character in novels by William Gibson
  • Molly French
    character in "The Sims 3" computer game
  • Molly Davis
    sister in Pixar's Toy Story series
  • Molly Garfunkle
    character on TV's "How To Rock"
  • Molly Singer
    daughter in the movie Corrina, Corrina
  • Molly Victoria Sherwood
    character on TV's Army Wives
  • Molly
    Scarlett Johansson's character in the movie "Chef"
  • Molly Dawes a.k.a. Iona Payne
    character on TV's Forever
  • Molly Hayes/Hernandez
    character in Marvel's Runaway comics
  • Molly Hatchet
    American Southern rock band
  • Flogging Molly
    American punk rock band
  • "Good Golly
    Miss Molly," song by Little Richard
  • "Anna Molly"
    a song by Incubus
  • The Molly Maguires
    Irish secret society
  • Molly
    slang for pure MDMA, main ingredient in the drug Ecstasy
  • "Molly's Lips"
    song by Nirvana and The Vaselines
  • "Molly's Chambers"
    song by Kings of Leon
  • Molly Chalmers
    character in Lois Lowry's "A Summer to Die"
  • Molly Grue
    character in "The Last Unicorn"
  • Molly
    giant trance worm, owned by Cleveland Booker in the 32nd Century, Molly the trance worm was
  • first scene in the Star Trek: Discovery episode "That Hope is You
    Part 1"
  • Molly Cunningham
    character in the Disney animated series "TaleSpin"