Viola
Small purple flower symbolizing modesty, humility and faithfulness.
Name Census estimates that about 18,715 living Americans carry the first name Viola. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Viola today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Viola births was 1918 (4,342 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Viola. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Viola with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Viola is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 434 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Viola have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 18,314 Americans
Peak year
1918
4,342 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1948 SSA rank
#1,190
Tracked since 1880
Census
Viola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 24,140 people with the first name Viola, which placed it at #1,417 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
#1,417
National first-name rank
People counted
24K
24,140 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Viola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Viola is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Hispanic (12.7%). 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 Viola 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 Viola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.5% · 13,162
- Black or African American26.3% · 6,359
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 3,060
- Two or more races2.8% · 687
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 550
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 322
Gender
Gender distribution for Viola
Out of the 133,175 babies given the name Viola since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Viola as a male name
- Ranked #3,653 in 1948
- 6 male births in 1948
- Peak: 1931 (20 births)
Viola as a female name
- Ranked #1,190 in 2024
- 199 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (4,331 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Viola appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,135 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Viola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Viola from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 33,396 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
Viola 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 Viola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Violas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the most babies named Viola, while Hawaii, Wyoming, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,017 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Viola
The name Viola is derived from the Latin word viola, meaning violet. It is a feminine form of the name Vio, which is believed to have originated from the Roman family name Violius. The name is thought to have been given to children with violet-colored eyes or born during the spring when violets bloom.
In ancient Roman times, the violet flower was associated with fertility, love, and modesty. It was believed to have aphrodisiac properties and was often used in love potions and rituals. The name Viola may have been used to honor the goddess Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, who was often depicted with violets.
The earliest recorded use of the name Viola dates back to the 13th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Viola de Lacy, an English noblewoman who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. She was the daughter of Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath, and inherited a significant amount of land and wealth from her father.
Another notable Viola in history was Viola Liuzzo, an American civil rights activist who was murdered in 1965 while participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama. She was born in 1925 and her tragic death brought national attention to the civil rights movement and the violence faced by activists.
In the 16th century, Viola Bardane was an Italian painter and poet known for her portraits and religious works. She was born in Naples in 1557 and her paintings can be found in various churches and museums throughout Italy.
Viola Pettit was an American actress and dancer who was a member of the Ziegfeld Follies in the early 20th century. She was born in 1888 and appeared in several Broadway productions and silent films during her career.
Viola Desmond was a Canadian businesswoman and civil rights activist who challenged racial segregation in Nova Scotia in the 1940s. She was born in 1914 and her act of resistance sparked a movement against segregation in Canada. She was posthumously pardoned and has been featured on the Canadian $10 banknote since 2018.
People
Viola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Viola as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Viola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Viola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,715 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Viola 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 18,314 US residents.
Is Viola a common name?
We classify Viola as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 133,175 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Viola most popular?
The single biggest year for Viola was 1918, when 4,342 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Viola is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Viola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 24,140 people with the name Viola, or 7.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,417 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 Viola 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 Viola?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Viola appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,135 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Viola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Viola is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Hispanic (12.7%). 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 Viola most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Viola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.5% (13,162 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 Viola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Viola a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Viola 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 Viola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Viola 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 Viola 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 Viola?
See how many Americans are named Viola on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.