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Iola

#12,408 in 2025Girls' name

Violet

Iola has been given to 9,659 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #12,408 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1918, with 368 recorded.

Babies named Iola, 2025

1 in 474,000

Iola over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Iola: meaning, origin, and history

Violet

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Iola means

Iola means “violet”, associated with íon.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἴον (íon, “violet”), evoking the flower's symbolism of modesty and beauty.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Iola (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Iola is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 9,659 girls were recorded with the name Iola between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 368 in 1918; its best national rank was #265 in 1907.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,173 in 2020 to #12,408 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #9,730 in 2015 to #12,408 in 2025.

How common is Iola?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 230,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#12,408
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Iola 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 2025 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 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Iola. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Iolas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Iola was born before 1922 — so the typical Iola is around 103 today.

Median birth year
1922
About 103 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
26.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
1.6%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
872
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 26.4% of all recorded uses (2,546).

Is Iola 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
−907
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,235
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,678
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.64×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
1.9%
Peak was 1918 (368)
Years since peak
107
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#265
1907

Spellings of Iola

Iola is not the most common spelling — Ella is, with 11.8% against Iola's 0.32%.

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 Iola is used

Across 1910–2025, Iola was most concentrated in Nebraska — about 1 in 5,263 girls, against 1 in 27,657 across all states with data. It was least common in West Virginia (1 in —).

019 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Nebraska1 in 5,263
  2. 2Alabama1 in 6,667
  3. 3Mississippi1 in 6,667
  4. 4Iowa1 in 7,143
  5. 5South Dakota1 in 7,143
  6. 6Arkansas1 in 7,692
  7. 7South Carolina1 in 9,091
  8. 8Louisiana1 in 11,111

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. Iola has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Iola around the world

Where Iola ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,867
    in 2025
  • France
    1924–2008
    #5,548
    in 2008
  • South Australia
    1950–2007
    #803
    in 2007

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Iola

People whose public names include Iola, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Iola in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Iola. Linked forms have their own page here.

IlaOlaIoleJolaYolaGladiolaIolande

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Iola by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#12,408
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,235
Best rank ever
#265
1907
Peak year
1918
368 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
9,659
Count in 2025
7

Names similar to Iola

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

ZolaNolaPaolaLeolaOlaEnolaNicolaFabiolaLolaPolaViolaCeolaDolaSolaCarolaVeolaEolaVolaXolaYolaIzolaNikolaNeolaTheola

Names with a curve like Iola

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Iola, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

LeotaVerdaMaurineErnaBernieceRubyeGarnetHortenseEdytheMadgeZelmaDessie

Sibling names for Iola

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 Iola

Top names of 1918, Iola's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1907More old lady namesGirls' names starting with I