She sounds like a modern mash-up of Zoe and Lola, but this name qualifies as an antique revival.
Thanks to Michelle for suggesting her daughter’s name, Zola, as our Baby Name of the Day.
Before you declare Zola a nouveau invention, check out the stats.
Loved this name so much my youngest daughter is named Zola, but for short we call her Zoe. Zola sounds really cool and different.
Zola is also a nickname for the name Zoe in Greece. We lived there for a few years, and many people told us that, since our daughter is Zoe. Like many greek nicknames though, it’s only used during childhood. I don’t know what age you have to be for people to stop calling you Zola! Also, I should note that with their accent, it has a slight hint of another vowel sound in there, more like “zoula”, but not really enough that you’d differentiate it from Zola.
In Zulu, or at least some of the Zulu people with this name that I have come across, it isn’t said as ZOH-luh, but as ZAW-luh.
I’m really loving Zola. It seems like it would wear well at all ages. I’ll have to add it to my ever expanding list. 🙂
I like Zola! Maybe more than Zinnia!
I had a great aunt named Ola, my grandfather’s sister. (He was Oll.) And get this, her married name was January. Ola January. Nice, right?
Two points of interest with this name on TV:
In Charmed, this was the name of a male “elder”, an angel or superior being I guess.
In Grey’s Anatomy, this is the name of the main character’s adoptive child.
I didn’t know that! Thanks.
Oh, and Zola Gray is divine!
Zola is pretty. It’s so nice to hear names I’ve never heard before, and yet their spelling and pronunciations are intuitive! I personally prefer Nola and Zara, but I’d love to meet a little Zola 🙂