Viola

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 9 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Viola is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Finnish given name48K records spelled Viola5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Sweden, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Vîõlâ, Vìola, Vîölã

• Russian given name17K records spelled Viola26 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Czechia, Ukraine, Poland

  Languages: Russian, Czech, Ukrainian

  Also written Виола, Віола, Вiола, Вайола, Віела

• Indonesian given name5.0K records spelled Viola2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Philippines, Italy

  Also written 'Viola

70 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Viola is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, synonym of Bratsche

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Italian, lat. viola «viola, fiore»; nome di santa venerata a Verona, talora usato tra gli Israeliti.

  as a name·Dizionario Dei Nomi e Cognomi Italiani

• In Swedish, Viola är ett latinskt namn, identiskt med växtbeteckningen viola ’viol’. En känd litterär gestalt är Viola i William Shakespeares Trettondagsafton (ca 1601). I den rikssvenska almanackan 29 oktober och i den finlandssvenska 3 juni.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Italian, Nome di una Santa, venerata a Verona, 3 maggio. Più in uso tra gli Israeliti (forse traduzione di qualche nome ebraico) che tra i Cristiani. Cogn. Viola. Violini. Forse vi concorrono Vito (ve- neto Vio)e Guido.

  as a name·Nomi e Cognomi: Saggio di ricerche etimologiche e storiche

• In Italian, do nome medieval Viola; pode ser matronímico ou ligado à flor ou ao instrumento musical

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Viola Lawrenceb. 1894USAmerican film editor (1894-1973)
• Viola Danab. 1897USactress (1897-1987)
• Viola Desmondb. 1914CACanadian activist (1914-1965)
• Viola Liuzzob. 1925USAmerican activist and murder victim (1925–1965)
• Viola Harrisb. 1926USAmerican actress (1926–2017)
• Sonja Edströmb. 1930SEnot in their usual nameSwedish cross-country skier
• Viola Amherdb. 1962CHSwiss politician
• Viola Davisb. 1965USAmerican actress and producer (born 1965)
• Viola Bauerb. 1976DEGerman cross-country skier
• Lynn Collinsb. 1977USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 846 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Viola?

We estimate roughly 83 thousand people bear Viola (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Viola have the most bearers?

We estimate about 47 thousand people bear Viola in Sweden, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled viola.

Where is Viola most common?

Viola is densest in Sweden, where the national register counts about 1 in 219 people carrying it.

How common is Viola compared with other names?

In Sweden, Viola is the 297th most common given name of 36,824 given names recorded there.

Is Viola a male or female name?

Viola is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Viola mean?

Recorded meaning: Any of several flowering plants, of the genus Viola, including the violets and pansies.