View Message

I love both actually. If it was for a baby born in December, then I'd definitely go with Holly. Otherwise I'd probably go with Molly, because I've always just loved it for years.

To me, these names are equally beautiful, but are entirely different; either name can "be called" or known as "the other", yet I would not try to compare them.

---

Holly (to me) is the childhood associations of Christmas; evergreen trees are still green in summer.

---

Molly is the "real & perfectly pragmatic girl"; I'd rather not state "loved" for private reasons - but beloved - even perhaps like the velveteen rabbit - not that the physical realm (physique) is that important.

---

These are just my thoughts.

This message was edited 7/30/2018, 3:07 AM

Pretty strongly dislike them both, and for the same reason (they seem cutesy and insubstantial to me). If I had to choose I’d go with Holly because it’s a plant and a ful name, while Molly is just a nickname for Mary. Molly is also the slang name of a drug.

Holly.

---

:)

is prettier, and it is a nice Christmas name!

They both seem a bit Irish...not exclusively so at all, but more so than the average name.

---

Molly's age is harder to place, although I don't think Holly is that dated.

---

Molly is a medieval diminutive, like Maude and Lucy, while Holly is a plant name, like Ivy or Hazel.

---

If I were picking a color for each: Molly is brown (because of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" maybe?), and Holly is green, because of the bush/tree.

---

They could both have religious associations. I get the feeling that the same group of people that'd like Lily, Noelle, and/or Molly, might also like Holly.

---

I prefer Holly.

This message was edited 7/29/2018, 2:51 PM

I prefer Molly, I feel like I’ve heard it much less than Holly. I have a friend called Holly too, so I’d feel weird using it. I did know a Molly (actually a double barrelled Molly- ) and she was pretty cool, plus I don’t talk to her anymore, so I’m fine with it.

Holly. I like the spikiness of it. Molly seems soft and floppy somehow: more of a cuddly labrador name.
And if shortened, I'd much rather be Hol than Moll.

Definitely Molly. Molly is loud and strong, but kind and sweet. Holly is brash and brusque.

Holly seems more modern and, in its way, a minor classic. Molly is not only dated; it also carries the baggage of having been a routine nn for Mary, going back to when there were so many Mary people that they had to be distinguished somehow, I suppose. So, lightweight, frivolous and stuck in the past.

---

ETA: Felie's post below made me think of the Afrikaans word 'mollig' which is a somewhat polite way of saying that someone is overweight, plump, podgy ... another black mark against Molly!

This message was edited 7/29/2018, 1:12 PM

Hi Perrine !!!

---

I pick Holly.

---

It is one of my favourite name since I was a child.
I love the plant, I love how it rings amd how it looks like. If I were English it would be among my first choices and in real life it is in my list for a usable MN.

---

Molly has an horrible sound.
In Italian "molle" means "weak, feeble, flaccid" so it is a bad link imo.
After that Molly is strickly linked with a character: Molly Weasley (Harry Potter saga). This is a very positive link because I love the Weasley Family.
But the negative fact is that because of the character I can figure it only on a woman in her 40s-50s.

---

Both Holly and Molly are ginger in my mind, this is a lovely fact.

---

As a name-nerd I prefer the form Polly over Molly.
Polly is charming and fairy-like as If it were Tinkerbell's name.

This message was edited 7/29/2018, 1:03 PM