Holmes

Boys' name

Islet

Holmes has been given to 610 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1915, with 24 recorded.

Babies named Holmes, 2024

1 in 557,000

Holmes over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Holmes: meaning, origin, and history

Islet

surname transfer

What Holmes means

Holmes means “islet”, associated with holm.

Origin, language, and formation

Holmes is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Holmes is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Holmes is pronounced /hoʊmz/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 610 boys were recorded with the name Holmes between 1880 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 24 in 1915; its best national rank was #867 in 1880.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Holmes?

Holmes had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024: 1 in 557,000; 6 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only: 1 in 287,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 386,177 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Holmes sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2024 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 386,177 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Holmes. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Holmess were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Holmes was born before 1927 — so the typical Holmes is around 98 today.

Median birth year: 1927; About 98 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 27.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 4.9%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 100; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 27.4% of all recorded uses (167).

Is Holmes rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1915 (24)
Years since peak: 110; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 26.6% average annual change
Best rank ever: #867; 1880

Spellings of Holmes

Holmes is not the most common spelling — Homer is, with 54.6% against Holmes's 0.55%.

Homer54.6%60,912
Holden29.1%32,507
Hollis14.4%16,014
Helmer0.75%835
Hermes0.62%697
Holmes0.55%610

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Holmes is used

Across 1910–2025, Holmes was most concentrated in Virginia — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 244,377 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Virginia1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Holmes has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Holmes by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #867; 1880
Peak year: 1915; 24 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 2024
All-time count: 610
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Holmes

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Holdyn Holten Holton Hermes Holston Holman Hollie Holger Holley Holland Jaymes Holt Holter Holsten Thomes Holstyn Holly Hollin Hollis Eames Holdan Holbert Radames Holdon

Sibling names for Holmes

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Golda Lauretta Era Leatha Leone Mayme Artie Alpha

For a brother

Gustave Waldo Orrin Winfield Dorsey Isadore Aloysius Regis

Explore around Holmes

Top names of 1915, Holmes's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1880 Boys' names starting with H