Viola?

[name]Both[/name] my great-grandmothers on my dad’s side are named [name]Viola[/name]. Growing up, I thought that was an interesting coincidence, but since I’ve looked at [name]Viola[/name]'s popularity chart I realize it wasn’t really a huge coincidence–they were born in 1910 and 1920, around [name]Viola[/name]'s peak. Since then, it’s fallen out of the U.S. Top 1000.
I liked my great-grandmas, but, because of them and the subsequent disappearance of the name [name]Viola[/name], I saw the name as impossibly fusty and outdated. The older of my great-grandmas passed away nearly ten years ago, but the other is still alive at almost 93 and was recently moved into a rest home. I have not seen her in years, since we live on opposite sides of the continent now, but because of her recent hospitalization and move, the name [name]Viola[/name] was on my mind. And all of a sudden, I saw it as usable.

What do you think? Is [name]Viola[/name] usable again? Did it really ever become “unusable”? Would it perhaps be better as a middle name? And is the correct pronunciation always vie-OH-la, as we say my great-grandmas’ names, or can it be correct to pronounce it vee-OH-la, like the musical instrument?

There’s a great Shakespearian heroine by the name, which has always made me love it. I’ve always heard it pronounced [name]VI[/name]-oh-lah in productions of Twelfth [name]Night[/name]. There is a lot of interest in [name]Violet[/name] these days, and [name]Viola[/name] seems a grander version of it.

I think [name]Viola[/name] is a lovely name & definitely usable. It’s a nice alternative to the more popular [name]Violet[/name].

[name]Viola[/name] is my current name crush. I would pronounce her VIE-oh-la, like [name]Violet[/name] with an ‘a’ instead of a ‘t’. I think she’s just gorgeous.

I think of VIE-oh-la as relating to the flower (violas are the family of violets, pansies, heartsease, johnny-jump-ups… some of the prettiest cottage-style little flowers there are…) and VEE-oh-la would be, as you say, more the musical instrument.

I love [name]Viola[/name], have loved it for years. As you can see, it was the flowers that were dear to my heart, but I also like the Shakespearean connection. I think while it does sound old-fashioned, it never entered unusable joke-name territory, like [name]Agnes[/name] used to be and [name]Bertha[/name]/[name]Gertrude[/name] sort of still are.

[name]Vivienne[/name], [name]Veronica[/name], [name]Violet[/name], etc. are all doing so well I don’t see while [name]Viola[/name] is a problematic first name at all.

I think [name]Viola[/name] is lovely and very usable.

I love it and would use it asap if i were you! There is nothing bad I could say about this beautiful name :slight_smile:

Beautiful! I think the natural tendency old be to pronounce it Vie-Oh-la

We, as in most English people, seem to use ‘v-eye-OH-la’ for the instrument and ‘v-EYE-la’ or ‘v-eyeuh-la’ for the name. See ‘Shakespeare in Love’.

[name]Viola[/name] is my favorite name. I’m completely in love with it. I would definitely pronounce it the British/Shakespearean way, VIE-oh-la.

I remember someone on another thread mentioning that ‘viola’ is the the Spanish word for ‘rape’ (technically it’s ‘violar’) but I don’t think that’s a problem if you pronounce it VIE instead of VEE.

I think [name]Viola[/name] is totally usable. It’s a great literary name, and a lot old fashioned names are coming back into style.

Accent on the first syllable, hmm? And definitely VIE-oh-la, not VEE-oh-la. Thank you, everyone, for the feedback on this name. I’m very happy to see it getting so much love.
Thanks, renrose, for the English perspective.
It seems that in my case [name]Viola[/name] could be a lovely family name for a future daughter.

I love this name! It’s best pronounced VIE-oh-la. It’s just as good as [name]Violet[/name] in my opinion. It’s melodic and graceful, with Shakespearean cred. It’s definitely usable.

[name]Viola[/name] is AWESOME :slight_smile: It’s totally usable. If I had any family connection to it I would use it in a heartbeat. Go for it!!!

Now that I have a few more minutes to reply to this thread:

Thank you, stripedsocks, for reminding me of johnny-jump-ups and the rest of the viola family. I was only thinking of violets, which are lovely, but I love the others, too. [name]Johnny[/name]-jump-ups in particular are so sweet and hardy; they can jump up anywhere, which probably accounts for their common name.

Thank you, ladycap, isabellemarie, augusta_lee, vedettessoir, njordv, sowurz, geeknamezyo, anton_yelchin_fan, elrock13 and jsavastano, for your lovely comments.

geeknamezyo, the word you mentioned probably comes from the same root as our word “violate,” which would make sense, right? Thankfully the root word is apparently totally unrelated to violets, but it’s worth noting how similar they are. Thanks for the heads-up.

I think [name]Viola[/name] is completely usable. I think [name]Louisa[/name] is a beautiful name and it hasn’t been in the top 1000 for quite sometime. I know a lovely teenage girl with the name, and it fits. I think [name]Viola[/name] would be just the same. Plus I’m always for honoring family with names. I think it gives the name so much more meaning and depth.

Thanks, katieramsey16. I’ve never had so many positive responses to any name! [name]Viola[/name] is definitely on my possibility list now.

Definitely lovely. It’s a grand dame kind of name, and very worth considering.

Thanks, appalachian_lady!

I prefer the pronunciation (and connotation) of the instrument…vee-oh-la. I never liked [name]Violet[/name] partially because it reminds me of the word violence. But [name]Viola[/name], like the instrument, is lovely.