Hollis

About Hollis

Hollis comes from an English surname referring to holly trees. Originally describing someone who lived near a group of hollies, it has become a first name for both boys and girls. Golfer Hollis Stacy and experimental filmmaker Hollis Frampton give the spelling distinctive sporting and artistic connections.

Meaning and Origins

The surname derives from Middle English holis, meaning “holly trees.” It belongs to the group of English family names that began by identifying a feature of the landscape around a person's home.

The plural reference points to a stand of trees rather than to one named individual. When the surname moved into first-name use, it retained that compact form and botanical background.

Hollis has the same opening sound as the English word holly, but its final s gives it a different shape. Its surname history also distinguishes it from a direct use of Holly as a first name.

Hollis Stacy and Championship Golf

American golfer Hollis Stacy won the United States Women's Open three times, in 1977, 1978, and 1984. Those victories placed her among the leading players of her era.

Before those professional achievements, Stacy won three consecutive U.S. Girls' Junior championships, from 1969 through 1971. Her record therefore spans success in both junior and professional competition.

She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012. The combination of repeated national championships and that recognition gives Hollis a substantial sporting namesake.

Stacy's career is also a clear example of the spelling used as a woman's first name, alongside its longer American history among boys.

Hollis Frampton and Film

American filmmaker Hollis Frampton made Zorns Lemma in 1970. The experimental work uses letters, words, and moving images in a carefully organized sequence, turning systems of reading and recognition into part of the viewing experience.

Frampton discussed the film in lectures preserved by the Harvard Film Archive. In one 1972 discussion, he explained his accumulation of word images and his use of a medieval text about light.

The film's concern with images and language gives Hollis an artistic association far removed from championship golf. Frampton's work belongs to a history of filmmakers exploring what cinema can do outside conventional storytelling.

His name appears in museum and archive collections that preserve both films and the thinking around them, giving the exact spelling a lasting place in experimental cinema.

Pronunciation and Shape

Hollis is pronounced HOLL-iss in English, with stress on the first syllable. The first vowel varies between American and British accents, while the final s remains clearly audible.

The name has two syllables and six letters. Its double l and final is give it a surname-like written form, with a softer ending than many names finishing in a stop consonant.

Holly shares its botanical background and opening sound, though Hollis developed through a separate surname form.

American Popularity

Hollis reached its largest annual male total in the United States in 1921, with 294 boys and a rank of 343rd. Recent use has grown again: 266 boys received it in 2025, placing it 894th.

Female use has also increased. There were eighteen girls named Hollis in 2000 and 206 in 2025, its largest annual female total, when it ranked 1,132nd.

The recent records show substantial use for both sexes, alongside the name's older surname history.

How popular is Hollis?

In 2025, Hollis ranked #894 among boys in the United States, with 266 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 294 in 1921. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.