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BabyNames
Girl name#178 of girl names

Sally

Pronounced S AE1 L IY0 (ARPABET)

  • 2 syllables
  • Peaked 1947
  • 145 years in use
  • 1 spelling
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How popular is Sally?

Sally is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 256,473 children — the 178th most common girls' name on record.

Its use has been broadly flat across the past two decades. Its best single year was 1947, when 5,888 children were given it.

Sallie is counted with it here, since the two are pronounced identically.

02,5005,0007,50010,00018901920195019802010
1947Girls: 5,888Boys: 14

Spelling variants

These spellings sound identical to Sally and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.

  • Sallie

Characteristics

  • 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
Pronunciations:
S AE1 L IY0
Stress pattern:
10
Syllables:
2

Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.

Names like Sally

Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.

Sibling names for Sally

Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.

Frequently asked questions

How popular is the name Sally?
Sally ranks 178th among girls' names in US records, with 256,473 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 2,218.
Is Sally a unisex name?
No. Sally is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
When was Sally most popular?
1947, when 5,888 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
How else is Sally spelled?
Sallie. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.