Girls' name · peaked in 1908

Viola name popularity since 1925

51,011 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Viola. Half of them were born in 1937 or earlier, so the typical Viola is about 89 years old in 2026. Viola peaked in 1908 as the #42 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 51,011; Named Viola, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1908; #42 for girls that year
Typical age: About 89; Median birth year 1937
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #1,015 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.6% girls; 50,810 girls · 201 boys
Most popular in: New Mexico; 4.57× its national share

Peak year is the year Viola made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Viola births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Viola peaked earlier, in 1908.

Steepest fall: Between 1964 and 1969, Viola's share of baby girls fell by 47%, from 1 in 6,450 to 1 in 12,100.
Fastest rise: Between 2007 and 2012, it became 1.8× more common, from 1 in 19,000 baby girls to 1 in 10,400.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Viola's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Viola.

Decade by decade

Babies named Viola in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	13,895	74	–
1930s	14,256	89	#152
1940s	8,269	38	#242
1950s	5,386	0	#387
1960s	2,732	0	#617
1970s	1,058	0	#1,276
1980s	764	0	#1,782
1990s	488	0	#2,930
2000s	734	0	#2,754
2010s	1,871	0	#1,274
2020–25	1,357	0	#1,015

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

48.2% of babies named Viola from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:

Where Viola is most popular

The index compares Viola's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Viola.

State	Index	Babies
New Mexico	4.57×	1,192
North Dakota	3.54×	528
South Dakota	2.66×	400
South Carolina	2.65×	1,751
Mississippi	2.25×	1,289

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Viola's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Viola.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Viola (1908).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data