Yola
Diminutive of Yolande, a French feminine name derived from the Germanic name Iolanthis.
Name Census estimates that about 61 living Americans carry the first name Yola. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yola today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yola births was 1915 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yola. 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 Yola is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Yolas were born before 1963.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yola. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
61
~ 1 in 5,618,924 Americans
Peak year
1915
32 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1983 SSA rank
#10,265
Tracked since 1900
Census
Yola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 518 people with the first name Yola, which placed it at #20,076 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
#20,076
National first-name rank
People counted
518
518 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yola is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (29.9%) and Hispanic (20.3%). 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 Yola 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 Yola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.9% · 222
- Black or African American29.9% · 155
- Hispanic or Latino20.3% · 105
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 24
- Two or more races1.4% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Popularity
Yola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yola from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 238 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
Yola 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 Yola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yolas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Yola, while Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yola
The name Yola is believed to have its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Polish and Ukrainian. It is a diminutive form of the name Jolanta, which is derived from the Old Greek name Violanta, meaning "violet-colored." The name gained popularity in the 9th and 10th centuries in Eastern Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yola can be found in the chronicles of the Kievan Rus', where a princess named Yola was mentioned in the 11th century. In medieval Poland, the name was associated with nobility and was borne by several members of the royal families.
In the 13th century, a Polish noblewoman named Yola of Opava was a notable figure. She was the wife of Przemysł I, the Duke of Greater Poland, and played a significant role in the political affairs of the region during her lifetime (c. 1245-1299).
The name Yola also appears in religious texts and hagiographies. St. Yola of Córdoba was a 9th-century Spanish martyr who was executed for her Christian faith during the Muslim rule of the Iberian Peninsula. Her feast day is celebrated on September 22nd.
In the 16th century, Yola Gryphin was a Polish noblewoman and philanthropist who established several charitable institutions and supported the education of orphans and underprivileged children (c. 1520-1588).
Another notable figure with the name Yola was Yola Gayot, a French author and playwright from the early 20th century. She was known for her works exploring themes of love, feminism, and social injustice (1889-1949).
Yola Ramírez Oropeza was a Mexican artist and painter renowned for her vibrant murals and frescoes depicting Mexican culture and history. She was an influential figure in the Mexican Muralism movement of the mid-20th century (1918-1991).
Throughout its history, the name Yola has maintained a strong presence in Eastern and Central European countries, as well as in parts of Latin America and France, where it has been influenced by various cultural and linguistic traditions.
People
Yola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yola as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 61 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yola 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 5,618,924 US residents.
Is Yola a common name?
We classify Yola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 587 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yola most popular?
The single biggest year for Yola was 1915, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yola is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 518 people with the name Yola, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,076 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 Yola 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 Yola?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yola leans strongly female. 513 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 6 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Yola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yola is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (29.9%) and Hispanic (20.3%). 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 Yola most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Yola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.9% (222 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 Yola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yola a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yola 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 Yola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yola 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 Yola 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 people have the name Yola?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Yola, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.