Soila
Feminine · “Life”
Soila is almost certainly Zoila with its first letter rewritten, and the Greek word underneath is life — the same one inside zoology and protozoa.
How old is the name Soila?
Soila first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Soila alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 500 people named Soila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Soila most popular?
Soila peaked in 1935, reaching #1418 nationally. See the whole 1935 chart.
Where it comes from
From Zoe to Soila
The story of Soila
The Greek word for life is unusually visible in English scientific vocabulary: zoology is the study of living things, a protozoan is a first animal, and a zoo is simply the place where they are. As a name it was carried by two Byzantine empresses, one of whom ruled in her own right and married three times to keep the throne, and it has remained in continuous use in the Greek and Spanish-speaking worlds ever since without ever becoming ordinary in English. The form with the l is the Spanish one, built with a suffix that turns the bare word into a name.
Meaningscholars disagree
Life
If the name is Zoila, as the record strongly suggests, the root is the Greek word for life. The reading depends entirely on that identification, which no source confirms in any individual case.
How the name formed
- Zoe
- Zoila
- Soila
Related forms: Zoila · Zoe
Pronouncing Soila
SOY-lah
Two syllables, stress at the front. Spanish says the initial the same way in either spelling.
Nicknames for Soila
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 192718 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1418reached in 1935
- Change vs 2006
- −28.6%5 in 2015, from 7
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.
Soila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zoila in Spanish — same name
- Zoe in Greek — related form
Soilas among us
people named Soila 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
Soila 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
- The word behind it is short, concrete and entirely positive.
- It is read correctly on sight in Spanish and in English.
- It is genuinely rare in either spelling.
- Zoila is the older spelling and hers may be written that way.
- The meaning depends on that identification, which no record confirms.
- English speakers will hear it as Sheila or Lola.
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Soila
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Soilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Soila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Soila in 2025?
- Soila is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Soila with classmates?
- Soila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Soila? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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