| Viola | Belinda | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Violet | Beautiful (disputed) |
| Origin | Italian | italian |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | vee-OH-lah | buh-LIN-duh |
| Syllables | 3 | 3 |
| First appeared | 1880 | 0 |
| Peak year | 1918 (4,331) | 1961 (3,120) |
| In 2025 | 247 | 0 |
| Trend | Rising | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Viola | Belinda |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 1,357 | 755 |
| 2010s | 1,871 | 2,127 |
| 2000s | 734 | 2,651 |
| 1990s | 488 | 2,373 |
| 1980s | 764 | 5,348 |
| 1970s | 1,058 | 12,488 |
| 1960s | 2,732 | 22,944 |
| 1950s | 5,386 | 20,941 |
| 1940s | 8,269 | 2,863 |
| 1930s | 14,256 | 219 |
| 1920s | 33,251 | 108 |
| 1910s | 33,076 | 83 |
| 1900s | 16,559 | 32 |
| 1890s | 9,386 | 23 |
| 1880s | 3,806 | 5 |
Viola is the Italian and Latin word for the violet flower.
HEDGE: origin uncertain. Commonly explained as coined from Italian bella 'beautiful' plus a suffix, which is why it is read as 'beautiful'. An alternative traces it to Old High German Betlinde, with a second element lind 'soft/tender' or possibly 'serpent/linden', in which case 'beautiful' would be folk-etymology.
Viola is more popular than Belinda today: about 247 US babies were given the name Viola in 2025, compared with 0 named Belinda.
Viola means Violet (Italian origin), while Belinda means Beautiful (disputed) (italian origin).
In US records, Viola first appears in 1880 and Belinda in 0, so Belinda has the longer recorded history.