Zoila
Feminine · “life”
Zoila is the Spanish feminine of Zoilo, and behind it is a fourth-century martyr of Cordoba and a Greek word for life. It has been a standard name in Spain and across Latin America for centuries, particularly in Ecuador, Peru and Central America, and its American record peaks in the 1920s with the first large wave of Spanish-speaking migration.
How old is the name Zoila?
Zoila first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Zoila alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 1,600 people named Zoila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zoila most popular?
Zoila peaked in 1929, reaching #1766 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 3,956 places below that high. See the whole 1929 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From zoe to Zoila
The story of Zoila
Saint Zoilus was martyred at Cordoba in the early fourth century, and his cult was substantial in Al-Andalus and later in Christian Spain: a basilica in Cordoba and the monastery of San Zoilo at Carrion de los Condes both carry his name. From that cult the personal name Zoilo entered Spanish naming, and the feminine Zoila followed. Spanish colonization carried both across the Atlantic, where Zoila took particularly firm hold in the Andes and in Central America. American birth records show it rising in the 1910s and 1920s and continuing quietly ever since, tracking Spanish-speaking migration rather than English-language fashion.
Meaning
life
Greek Zoilos is built on zoe, 'life', with an ending that makes it a personal name — the same root that gives zoology and the name Zoe itself. Zoilos was a real and reasonably common Greek name; the best-known ancient bearer is a fourth-century-BC critic of Homer whose name became a byword for a carping reviewer. The Spanish Zoilo and its feminine Zoila descend from the Christian saint rather than from the critic, but the word underneath is the same.
How the name formed
- zoe
- Zoilos
- Zoilo
- Zoila
Related forms: Zoila · Zoilos · Zoilo · Zoe
Pronouncing Zoila
ZOY-lah
Two syllables in Spanish, stress on the first, with oi as a single diphthong rhyming with 'boil'. English speakers who separate the vowels and say ZOH-ee-lah are adding a syllable the name does not have.
Nicknames for Zoila
High
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
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 198934 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1766reached in 1929
- Change vs 2023
- +16.7%21 in 2025, from 18
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.
Zoila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zoila in Spanish — same name
- Zoilos in Greek — related form
- Zoilo in Spanish — related form
- Zoe in English — related form
Zoilas among us
people named Zoila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Zoila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Solveig test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zoila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Solveig climbed just as high around 1913, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Solveig's path sketches the road Zoila is walking now.
Zoila sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Zoila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zoila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is one word long and connects to the familiar Zoe.
- It is short, phonetic in Spanish, and unusual in English-speaking countries.
- It has a documented saint and a fifteen-hundred-year history in Spain.
- English speakers frequently add a syllable and say ZOH-ee-lah.
- It is rare enough in the United States to need spelling out every time.
- The name is closely tied to Spanish-language Catholic tradition, which suits some families and not others.
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What they receive
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Zoila
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zoilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Zoila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zoila in 2025?
- Zoila ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zoila?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Zoila — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zoila with classmates?
- Zoila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zoila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zoila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zoila and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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