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Cola

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Charcoal

Cola has been given to 340 babies in the U.S. since 1894. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1916, with 17 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 76% girls, 24% boys all-time.

Babies named Cola, 1987

1 in 601,000

Cola over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Cola over time

In 1987, Cola went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

18941987

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Cola: meaning, origin, and history

Charcoal

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cola means

Cola means “charcoal”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Cola is used in Anglo-Saxon.

Origin, language, and formation

Cola is used in Old English.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Old English, Cola is pronounced /ˈkoː.lɑ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 259 girls were recorded with the name Cola between 1894 and 1987. Its highest annual count was 17 in 1916; its best national rank was #1,070 in 1895.

In the United States, 81 boys were recorded with the name Cola between 1914 and 1960. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1920; its best national rank was #2,707 in 1914.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Cola?

Cola had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1987, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1987
1 in 601,000
6 of 3,605,072 births
Among girls only
1 in 290,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 1987
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
416,475 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cola sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1987 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 416,475 children born in 1987 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cola. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Colas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cola was born before 1921 — so the typical Cola is around 104 today.

Median birth year
1921
About 104 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
32.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
2.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
6
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 32.4% of all recorded uses (84).

Is Cola rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1916 (17)
Years since peak
109
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,070
1895

Spellings of Cola

Cola is not the most common spelling — Ella is, with 12.3% against Cola's <0.01%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Cola is used

Across 1910–2025, Cola was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 905,058 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Georgia1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Cola has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Cola by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,070
1895
Peak year
1916
17 that year
First recorded
1894
Last recorded
1987
All-time count
259
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,707
1914
Peak year
1920
8 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
1960
All-time count
81
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Cola

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ColeColeySolaColbiXolaColtonCollieAnolaCollinJolaPolaCollierInolaColinGolaCollynColieRolaColetaEniolaAdeolaYolaColbeeCollyns

Sibling names for Cola

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Cola

Top names of 1916, Cola's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1895Girls' names starting with COld English Boy Names