Molly
Top 1000
About Molly
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.
As of October 2026, Molly ranked #196 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #74 in 1991, Nameberry popularity #118.
Editor's take: The name Molly is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "bitter".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #122 | 2,605 | 1,458.3 |
| 2015 | #144 | 2,254 | 1,262.7 |
| 2016 | #157 | 1,985 | 1,120.2 |
| 2017 | #166 | 1,829 | 1,059.4 |
| 2018 | #157 | 1,799 | 1,057.6 |
| 2019 | #161 | 1,757 | 1,046.9 |
| 2020 | #174 | 1,644 | 1,017 |
| 2021 | #186 | 1,582 | 964.1 |
| 2022 | #199 | 1,481 | 903 |
| 2023 | #208 | 1,437 | 895.6 |
| 2024 | #208 | 1,465 | 904.2 |
| 2025 | #196 | 1,601 | 996.1 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Molly.
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Molly on lists
Famous Mollys
- 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 "Åban 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"
- Molly Morris
main character in film "So Undercover"