Mayola
A feminine name of Spanish origin, meaning "greatest" or "highest".
Name Census estimates that about 226 living Americans carry the first name Mayola. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mayola today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mayola births was 1922 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mayola. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Mayola is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mayolas were born before 1961.
People living today
226
~ 1 in 1,516,612 Americans
Peak year
1922
45 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1995 SSA rank
#14,911
Tracked since 1898
Census
Mayola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 579 people with the first name Mayola, which placed it at #18,565 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#18,565
National first-name rank
People counted
579
579 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
48.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mayola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mayola is Hispanic at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Black (33.3%) and White (14.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mayola described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mayola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino48.0% · 278
- Black or African American33.3% · 193
- White14.2% · 82
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 9
- Two or more races0.7% · 4
Popularity
Mayola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mayola from the 1890s through to the 1990s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 364 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mayola by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mayola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mayolas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Mayola, while Oklahoma, North Carolina, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mayola
The first name Mayola has its origins in the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in the Basque region that spans parts of modern-day Spain and France. It is derived from the ancient Basque word "maia," which means "good" or "beautiful." The name likely emerged during the early medieval period, around the 6th or 7th century CE, as the Basque language and culture flourished in the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mayola can be found in a collection of Basque folktales and legends from the 11th century. In these tales, Mayola is portrayed as a beautiful and virtuous young woman who embodied the qualities associated with the name's meaning. This early literary reference suggests that the name was already in use among the Basque people during that time.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the name Mayola gained popularity in the Basque regions and beyond. Notable historical figures who bore this name include Mayola de Navarra, a noblewoman from the Kingdom of Navarre who lived in the 13th century and was renowned for her patronage of the arts and literature.
In the 16th century, Mayola Gómez de Silva was a prominent Spanish explorer and navigator who accompanied several expeditions to the Americas. Her remarkable achievements as a woman in a male-dominated field earned her recognition and praise from her contemporaries.
During the 17th century, Mayola Alonso de Contreras, a Spanish writer and soldier, gained fame for her autobiographical accounts of her adventures and travels across Europe and the Mediterranean. Her vivid and captivating narratives provided valuable insights into the social and cultural landscapes of the time.
In the realm of art, Mayola Jiménez was a renowned Basque painter who lived during the 19th century. Her vibrant and expressive works, which often depicted scenes from daily life in the Basque Country, earned her critical acclaim and a place in the annals of Spanish art history.
While the name Mayola has its roots in the Basque culture, it has also found usage in other parts of Spain and beyond, although to a lesser extent. Its enduring presence over the centuries serves as a testament to the rich cultural heritage and linguistic diversity of the Iberian Peninsula.
People
Mayola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mayola as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mayola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mayola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 226 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mayola going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,516,612 US residents.
Is Mayola a common name?
We classify Mayola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,211 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mayola most popular?
The single biggest year for Mayola was 1922, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mayola is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mayola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 579 people with the name Mayola, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,565 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mayola in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mayola?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mayola appears almost entirely female. Of the 582 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mayola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mayola is Hispanic at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Black (33.3%) and White (14.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mayola most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Mayola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.0% (278 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mayola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mayola a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mayola in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mayola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mayola in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mayola can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Mayola?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Mayola at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.