I love [name]Molly[/name], ever since I was really little, but I wouldn’t want to use just [name]Molly[/name]. I prefer longer elegant names for girls,plus I’ve overused the name for dolls and stuffies. Any ideas…
The traditional full name for [name]Molly[/name] is [name]Mary[/name]. Funny that the nn is longer than the full name!
Yeah, [name]Mary[/name] nn [name]Molly[/name] is the history.
You could use it, either spelled [name]Molly[/name] or [name]Mali[/name], as a nn for [name]Amalia[/name]. Prn A -molly -a. An interesting name that sounds close to [name]Amelia[/name] but has it’s own history.
I suppose an M name with an Oliv- etc. middle name would be [name]Molly[/name] or [name]Moli[/name] pretty plausibly. [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Olivia[/name] as a double-barrel, [name]Morwenna[/name] [name]Olive[/name], etc.
Traditionally [name]Molly[/name] is a nn for [name]Mary[/name], I assume you know and don’t prefer that option?
Nameberry has a list of [name]Mary[/name]'s international variations, which may help… honestly, I think any of them could work, but some might disagree:
[name]Mariella[/name] / [name]Marielle[/name]
[name]Mariette[/name]
[name]Marion[/name]
[name]Maroula[/name]
[name]Maura[/name] / [name]Moira[/name] / [name]Maureen[/name]
[name]Molara[/name]
These could also work, even more for spelling [name]Mali[/name], again there may be differing opinions on that:
[name]Malena[/name] / [name]Marlena[/name]
Maliana
[name]Malia[/name] / [name]Maliah[/name] / [name]Maleah[/name]
[name]Malina[/name]
[name]Malika[/name]
[name]Mallorie[/name] / [name]Malorie[/name]
Maluhia
Malulani
[name]Malvina[/name]
More of a departure, containing “mol” or “mal”:
[name]Amalya[/name]
Amoli / [name]Amali[/name] / [name]Amalia[/name] / [name]Amalina[/name]
[name]Camala[/name]
Damali
Hemalata
Kaimalie (pronounced keye-muh-[name]LEE[/name]-eh)
Nirmala
Omolara
[name]Romola[/name]
Salmali (I think this is beautiful, Sanskrit)
Vimala
Am I the only one that doesn’t hear [name]Mali[/name] as sounding the same as [name]Molly[/name] in any way, or am I mispronouncing the name? [name]Mali[/name] to me sounds much closer to [name]Marley[/name] than [name]Molly[/name]. Or is it simply down to differing accents?
If you’re open to double names, you could use something like [name]MOrgan[/name] [name]LiLY[/name] to get [name]Molly[/name], though it’ll probably be seen as a stretch by some. I also like the previous suggestion of [name]Mary[/name] [name]OLIvia[/name].
Previous posters have given some wonderful options. I would like to add another name that could work as a full name for [name]Molly[/name]: [name]Magnolia[/name] (it has an m,o,l in it)
@essjay - yes, [name]Mali[/name] and [name]Molly[/name] would be pretty different in many accents, but are pretty identical if not fully identical in a kind of pan-Western/mid-Western / roughly standard American English.
It might be a stretch, but the first name that came to mind for me was [name]Melinda[/name].
Has anybody mentioned [name]Margaret[/name]? The unsinkable “molly” brown was actually a [name]Margaret[/name].
I’m a [name]Molly[/name] just [name]Molly[/name]…I have often wished I. Had a longer name with some nickname options…I have always wished my name was not [name]Molly[/name] too though…I’m not really sure why it is so popular…I find it boring and there is a fish called a [name]Mollie[/name]…blech
They sound totally different to me, too: [name]Mali[/name] is MAH-lee, [name]Molly[/name] is MAW-lee (like [name]Polly[/name]).
I love [name]Margaret[/name] nn [name]Molly[/name]. A much cuter choice than [name]Maggie[/name] imo.
Given that [name]Molly[/name] is traditionally a nn for [name]Mary[/name], why not one of the [name]Mari[/name]-names, which all derive from [name]Mary[/name] or [name]Mary[/name] + one other name.
[name]Marietta[/name]
[name]Marianne[/name]
[name]Mariana[/name]
[name]Maribel[/name]
Maybe [name]Amelie[/name] nn [name]Molly[/name] could work?
For those curious about [name]Molly[/name] vs [name]Mali[/name] in the US
Scroll down to English, GA ([name]General[/name] American) and if you follow the link to English phonology, cot-caught merger is the relevant one:
It says 40% of American English speakers but I’d venture it’s quite a bit higher than that - if I’m wrong, it’s at least the case that there are vast regions of the country where that 40% is everyone.