UK Name Distribution

Hollier has always been the most common form of spelling amongst the three, but have the relative proportions changed over time? Where are the names most common?

The following shows the numbers and proportions of the three names as taken from the indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths during the 19^th century (1837-1899).

Name	Births		Marriages		Deaths
	No	%	No	%	No	%
Hollier	1026	73	569	79	647	75
Hollyer	238	17	98	14	149	17
Holyer	137	10	56	8	61	7
Total	1401		723		857

Another view from the 19^th century can be gleaned from the comprehensive index to the 1881 census. This shows:-

Name	Number	%
Hollier	613	77
Hollyer	110	14
Holyer	73	9
Total	796

There is a degree of error in the foregoing data, as I have not made all the corrections that one might, where Hollyer is recorded as Holyer or vice versa. Distribution maps for the 1881 census can be viewed here:

Distribution for Hollier

Distribution for Hollyer

Distribution for Holyer

With thanks to Harry Wykes for his mapping facility.

Present day distribution can be determined from the Electoral Roll and the Telephone Directory. Both are imperfect, especially the telephone directory, due to the varying numbers of ex-directory subscribers.

Electoral Roll
Name	Number	%
Hollier	605	69
Hollyer	150	17
Holyer	117	13
Total	872

Telephone Directory
Name	Number	%
Hollier	205	71
Hollyer	36	12
Holyer	47	16
Total	289

This suggests that the relative proportions of the three names have remained broadly the same, but Hollyer and especially Holyer seem to have increased during the 20^th century. Holyer seems to have grown in comparison with Hollyer, reversing the 19^th century trend for Holyers to take the name Hollyer. Taken together, the total number of Hollier, Hollyer and Holyers in the UK today is probably around 1000-1200.

Support for this estimate and backing up the data from the Electoral Roll, is the new data now available from the Office of National Statistics about the number of surnames of people registered with the NHS:

NHS Registrations
Name	Number	%
Hollier	778	70
Hollyer	192	17
Holyer	139	13
Total	1109

The NHS data also reveals the ranking of the 3 surnames in England and Wales today: Hollier 8103; Hollyer 21877 and Holyer 26873.

Of interest from the Telephone Directory is the geographic distribution. The two most populated modern counties for Hollier are West Midlands (16%) and Avon (9%).This shows the traditional heartland of Birmingham and nearby places remains strong,as does Bristol and the surrounding part of old Somerset.

For Hollyer, the two strongest counties are Kent (39%) and Middlesex (11%), while for Holyer they are Kent (30%) and East Sussex(15%). Thus my own old Kent Holyer/Hollyer family dominates.