Mayola
Feminine
The y in the middle of Mayola is keeping two vowels apart, which is the oldest job the letter has. Without it the a and the o would sit next to each other and English would not know what to do with them; with it the name divides cleanly into three syllables and reads at a glance.
How old is the name Mayola?
Mayola first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Mayola alive today was born around 1928, making them about 97 years old. About 300 people named Mayola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mayola most popular?
Mayola peaked in 1912, reaching #1032 nationally. See the whole 1912 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Mayola
The May in the name may not be the month. In English the word is also the ordinary country name for hawthorn blossom, which comes out at the end of the month and gave the tree its name rather than taking it: a may tree is a hawthorn, may blossom is its flower, and the maypole was originally cut from one. Hedges of it were planted across England in their millions when the fields were enclosed, so the flower was the most visible thing in the landscape for a few weeks each year and everybody knew what it was called. The month, meanwhile, is named for a Roman goddess so obscure that Roman writers themselves offered several competing accounts of who she was. A family naming a daughter May was as likely to mean the hedge as the calendar.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The front is May, which is a month, a woman's name and a flower depending on how it is meant, and the ending is a piece of American naming material with no source. The compound has no meaning, and nothing in the record says which sense of the front half a family had in mind.
Pronouncing Mayola
may-OH-luh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The y is a consonant here, doing the same job it does in the middle of loyal and royal, and without it the spelling would be genuinely difficult to read.
Nicknames for Mayola
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 192245 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1032reached in 1912
- Change vs 1981
- 0.0%5 in 1995, from 5
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.
Mayolas among us
people named Mayola 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
Mayola 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
- May and Ola are two short forms in different registers and both stand alone.
- The name is spelled exactly as it sounds once the y is understood as a consonant.
- The rhythm is easy and every sound is available to an English speaker.
- It will be heard as Mayola and Viola and Mahala, all of which circulate in the same records.
- It is strongly dated to the turn of the last century in American use.
- There is no meaning for the whole name, only for the half that is an English word.
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Mayola
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Mayolas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Mayola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mayola in 2025?
- Mayola is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Mayola with classmates?
- Mayola will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mayola? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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