Yolonda
Feminine · “violet”
Yolanda reached America twice, by two roads that never met. One came through Spanish, where it had been a royal name since the Middle Ages; the other came through Italian and French, where the same name belonged to queens of Aragon and Jerusalem. Yolonda is the American spelling that settled between them.
How old is the name Yolonda?
Yolonda first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Yolonda alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 3,500 people named Yolonda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yolonda most popular?
Yolonda peaked in 1972, reaching #742 nationally. See the whole 1972 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From viola to Yolonda
The story of Yolonda
The medieval form was Yolande, and it belonged to formidable women: Yolande of Aragon, who financed the campaign that put Charles the Seventh on the French throne and backed Joan of Arc, and Yolande of Jerusalem, married at thirteen to an emperor. Spain used Yolanda, Italy Iolanda, France Yolande. Spanish-speaking families brought one version to America and Italian families another, and the spelling settled into Yolanda in the record, with Yolonda beside it wherever the unstressed middle vowel was written the way it is actually said.
Meaningscholars disagree
violet
The name is generally traced to Violante, and through it to the Latin viola, the violet. The chain is plausible but not documented at every step, and some scholars prefer a Germanic source entirely.
How the name formed
- viola
- Violante
- Yolande
- Yolonda
Related forms: Yolanda · Yolande · Iolanda · Jolan · Iolanda
Pronouncing Yolonda
yoh-LON-duh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. Spanish and Italian say it the same way, which is why the name travels so easily between them.
Nicknames for Yolonda
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
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 1972188 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #742reached in 1972
- Change vs 2005
- −50.0%5 in 2006, from 10
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.
Yolonda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yolanda in Spanish — spelling variant
- Yolande in French — same name
- Iolanda in Italian — same name
- Jolan in Hungarian — related form
- Iolanda in Portuguese — same name
Yolondas among us
people named Yolonda 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
Yolonda 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
- It is recognized and said correctly in English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese without adjustment.
- Yoli is a ready short form used across a whole continent.
- The medieval bearers behind it are real, documented and unusually consequential.
- Yolanda is the standard spelling and will be written instead on almost every form.
- The o and the a in the middle are said identically, so the spelling has to be given every time.
- It reads as a name of the middle of the twentieth century in America, though it is centuries older in Europe.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Yolonda to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Yolonda? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Yolonda
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Yolondas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Yolonda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yolonda in 2025?
- Yolonda is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Yolonda with classmates?
- Yolonda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More Y names
The most-given names starting with Y, all years combined.
Yvonne#2051 · Yolanda#3211 · Yvette#1622 · Yesenia#1896 · Yasmin#955 · Yasmine#1183 · Yaretzi#670 · Yadira#3832
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yolonda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yolonda and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle