Dolly

English, diminutive of Dorothy

"gift of God"

Dolly Origin and Meaning

The name Dolly is a girl's name of English origin meaning "gift of God".

Sweet and cosy with a touch of sass, this nickname-y choice was a familiar option up until the sixties in the US. Then, for a while, it was a bit of a one-person name, associated with singer Dolly Parton, but more recently, it's been singing a fashionable note again along with sisters Dottie and Millie.

Typically short for Dorothy or its sister, Dorothea, Dolly has been used on its own since the seventeenth century, so common then that it became a generic term for a favored girl. In the US, it was a Top 300 name around the turn of the last 20th century.

The fourth First Lady of the United States spelled her name variously as Dolly and Dolley Madison. And of course Dolly Levi is the name of the central character in the iconic musical bearing her name. Then, there's Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned, and the British writer and journalist, Dolly Alderton, who likely helped bring this name back into the England and Wales Top 1000 back in 2008.

While some may read it as just a touch too cutesy, Dolly does fit right in with Birdie, Scottie, Maisie, Etta, Goldie, and so on, and was a Top 400 choice in the UK in a recent year. Its return to the stage in the US has been quieter, but 127 girls were called Dolly in the latest count: more than double the number who were given the name in 2020.

Love Dolly but want a full name besides Dorothy and Dorothea? You could try Dahlia, Gwendolyn, Theodora, Delphine, Odilia, or Dolores.

Dolly Rank in US Top 1000

# 960 in the US

Dolly Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 786 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Dolly

• 786 Nameberry 2025
• 624 Unique 2024
• 343 England 2024
• 67 Dogs 2022

20 Names Similar to Dolly

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Dolly.

• Kitty
• Minnie
• Polly
• Dot
• Peggy
• Penny
• Flo
• Betsy
• Bess
• Dottie
• Franny
• Myrtle
• Sally
• Bessie
• Betty
• Ginger
• Wendy
• Connie
• Lou
• Velma

Famous People Named Dolly

• Dolly Rebecca Parton American country music singer
• Dorothy Clara Louise "Dolly" Haas German,American actress, wife of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld
• Dorothy Theresa "Dolly" Hall American film producer
• Dorothy Ann "Dolly" Collins English folk musician
• Dolly Buster aka Nora Baumberger (born Nora Dvořáková) Czech,American actress
• Dolly Jacobs American circus aerialist
• Dorothy "Dolly" Peel English fishwife and smuggler
• Dorothy "Dolly" Pentreath Last native Cornish speaker
• Dolly Rathebe South African singer/actress
• Dolly Vanderlip All,American Girls Professional Baseball League pitcher
• Dolly Banks Baddiel (b. 2001), daughter of actress Morwenna Banks
• Dolly Rebecca Rose O'Connell (b. 2009) daughter of actors Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell
• The Dolly Sisters Jenny and Rosie Dolly, Hungarian,American identical twin dancers and actresses, famous in the 1920s
• Dolly Rose Campbell, English actress

The name Dolly in Pop Culture

• Darya "Dolly" Alexandrovna Oblonskaya character in Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"
• Dolly Gallagher Levi main character in Thornton Wilder's "The Matchmaker" and musical "Hello, Dolly!"
• Dolly Meriwether character in Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind"
• Dolly Keane character in The Family Circus comic strip
• Dolly Skilbeck character on British soap "Emmerdale"
• Dolly Rawlins character in "Widows"
• Dolly doll in Pixar's "Toy Story 3"
• Dolly occasional nickname for Dolores "Lolita" Haze in Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" ("she was Dolly at school")
• Dolly Scottish cloned sheep
• "Dolly Dagger " song by Jimi Hendrix
• "Little Dolly Daydream " English music hall song by Leslie Stuart.
• Dolly a character featured in Billion Surprise Toys videos. The doctor told her to never play in the rain, and she replied, "okay sure I will do like that"