Dola
Feminine
A four-letter name leaves almost no room for evidence. There is nothing in Dola to trace — no distinctive ending, no recognizable front, no consonant cluster that belongs to one language rather than another — and the shorter a name is, the less it can tell you about where it came from.
How old is the name Dola?
Dola first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Dola alive today was born around 1923, making them about 102 years old. About 200 people named Dola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dola most popular?
Dola peaked in 1910, reaching #877 nationally. See the whole 1910 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From several longer names available as possible parents to Dola
Our story of Dola
Etymology is a game played with surplus letters. A long name carries redundancy — an ending that belongs to one language, a consonant cluster that belongs to another, a vowel that has clearly been reduced from something fuller — and every one of those is a clue. Take the letters away and the clues go with them. That is why the shortest names in any language are the hardest to trace and the most likely to have several competing explanations: there is not enough material for any of them to be ruled out.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Several parents have been suggested and none can be shown: Dolores cut short, Adola or Adolpha with the front removed, Dorothy worn down, or a name assembled from a fashionable ending. The record shows it in use before 1890 and out of use within two generations, which is all it shows.
How the name formed
- several longer names available as possible parents
- Dola appears in the American record in the 1880s
- peaks around 1910
- out of use by the middle of the century
- no source has ever been established
Related forms: Dolla · Lola
Pronouncing Dola
DOH-luh
Two syllables, stress at the front. There is no competing reading.
Nicknames for Dola
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1886
- Most girls named
- 191735 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #877reached in 1910
- Change vs 1963
- 0.0%6 in 1972, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dola in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dolla in English — spelling variant
- Lola in Spanish — related form
Dolas among us
people named Dola are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Dola sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Four letters, two syllables and impossible to mispronounce.
- Dolly is available and is being rediscovered.
- It is genuinely unrepeated — nobody now gives it.
- There is no meaning and no origin, and none is likely to be found.
- It will be heard as Lola, Dora and Nola by nearly everyone.
- It belongs to the oldest layer of the American record.
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Dola
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Dolas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Dola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dola in 2025?
- Dola is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Dola with classmates?
- Dola will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dola? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dola and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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