How Many People Are Named Viola?
An estimated 18,715 people in the United States have the first name Viola. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 62 years old, and Viola peaked in popularity in 1918 with 4,342 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Viola as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Viola paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Viola is overwhelmingly female, 434 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
- Viola has fallen dramatically from its peak in the 1920s. Recent registrations are less than 5% of what they were at the name's height.
Estimated Living Americans
18,715
About 1 in 18,314 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.7% confidence
Average Age
62
years old
Peak Year
1918
4,342 births
Total Registered
133,175
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Viola
Viola is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 133,175 total births registered, 99.7% were female.
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)
Viola: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Viola span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 33,396 babies were registered. Viola has declined significantly from its peak in the 1920s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Viola by Decade
How has Viola tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,811 | 5 | 3,806 | |
| 1890s | 9,398 | 12 | 9,386 | |
| 1900s | 16,623 | 64 | 16,559 | |
| 1910s | 33,158 | 81 | 33,077 | |
| 1920s | 33,396 | 145 | 33,251 | |
| 1930s | 14,345 | 89 | 14,256 | |
| 1940s | 8,307 | 38 | 8,269 | |
| 1950s | 5,386 | 0 | 5,386 | |
| 1960s | 2,732 | 0 | 2,732 | |
| 1970s | 1,058 | 0 | 1,058 | |
| 1980s | 764 | 0 | 764 | |
| 1990s | 488 | 0 | 488 | |
| 2000s | 734 | 0 | 734 | |
| 2010s | 1,870 | 0 | 1,870 | |
| 2020s | 1,105 | 0 | 1,105 | |
Viola by State
Birth registrations for Viola span all 49 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, Pennsylvania, Texas. The lowest are in Hawaii, Wyoming, Delaware. On average, about 2,017 Violas were registered per state.
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.
Names Similar to Viola
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
Viola: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Viola?
We estimate approximately 18,715 people named Viola are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 18,314 Americans share this first name.
Is Viola a common name?
Viola is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.4% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 133,175 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Viola most popular?
Viola reached peak popularity in 1918, when 4,342 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Viola is approximately 62 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Viola a female name?
Viola is predominantly female. 99.7% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Viola Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Viola Smith, Viola Johnson, Viola Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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