Pollyanna

#6,272 in 2025Girls' name

Combination of Polly and Anna

Pollyanna has been given to 1,129 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #6,272 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1964, with 53 recorded.

Babies named Pollyanna, 2025

1 in 174,000

Pollyanna over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Pollyanna: meaning, origin, and history

Combination of Polly and Anna

Hebrew

What Pollyanna means

Pollyanna is a compound of Polly and Anna.

Origin, language, and formation

Pollyanna is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Polly and Anna.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Pollyanna is pronounced /ˌpɒliˈænə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,129 girls were recorded with the name Pollyanna between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 53 in 1964; its best national rank was #1,572 in 1964.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #11,879 in 2020 to #6,272 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #9,352 in 2015 to #6,272 in 2025.

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 Pollyanna?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 174,000; 19 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only: 1 in 84,600; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025: #6,272; of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 120,943 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Pollyanna sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 120,943 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Pollyanna. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Pollyannas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Pollyanna was born before 1965 — so the typical Pollyanna is around 60 today.

Median birth year: 1965; About 60 years old
Biggest decade: 1960s; 25.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 16.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 776; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1960s — 25.2% of all recorded uses (284).

Is Pollyanna 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: +2,043; Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago: +5,607; Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago: +3,080; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 1.58×; More babies than then
Share of its own peak: 35.8%; Peak was 1964 (53)
Years since peak: 61; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 26.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,572; 1964

Spellings of Pollyanna

Pollyanna is not the most common spelling — Lillyanna is, with 58.0% against Pollyanna's 19.4%.

Lillyanna58.0%3,370
Pollyanna19.4%1,129
Ellyanna12.0%695
Hollyann10.6%619

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 Pollyanna is used

Across 1910–2025, Pollyanna was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 838,155 across all states with data. It was least common in Kentucky (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1California1 in —
2Indiana1 in —
3Kentucky1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Pollyanna has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Pollyanna around the world

Where Pollyanna ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
1996–2025
#2,006
in 2025
Scotland
2002–2002
#640
in 2002
France
1988–2012
#6,742
in 2012
South Australia
1971–2008
#533
in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Pollyanna by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: #6,272
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Up 5,607
Best rank ever: #1,572; 1964
Peak year: 1964; 53 that year
First recorded: 1914
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 1,129
Count in 2025: 19

Names similar to Pollyanna

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

Sibling names for Pollyanna

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

Sarita Zina Missy Lynnette Juli Marybeth Johnna Carmel

For a brother

Darron Cornell Tad Robby Deron Randell Russ Kelley

Explore around Pollyanna

Top names of 1964, Pollyanna's peak year The 1960s in full Other names that peaked in 1964 Girls' names starting with P