Fola
A name of Yoruba origin meaning "wealth and riches abound".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Fola. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Fola today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fola births was 1912 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fola. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Fola. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1912
7 babies that year
Average age
-
1912 SSA rank
#2,470
Tracked since 1911
Census
Fola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 170 people with the first name Fola, which placed it at #42,346 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#42,346
National first-name rank
People counted
170
170 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fola is Black at 81.8%. The next largest groups are White (8.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Fola described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Fola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American81.8% · 139
- White8.8% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 5
- Two or more races1.2% · 2
Popularity
Fola: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Fola by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Fola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 0 | 13 | 13 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Fola
The given name Fola has its origins in the Yoruba language, spoken primarily in southwestern Nigeria and parts of the neighboring countries of Benin and Togo. It can be traced back to the ancient Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, which flourished from the 14th to the 19th century.
Fola is derived from the Yoruba word "ọlá," which means "wealth" or "honor." In the traditional Yoruba culture, names often carried deep symbolic meanings and were believed to have a significant influence on an individual's character and destiny.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fola can be found in the Ifa corpus, a sacred collection of Yoruba literary texts and oral traditions. It is mentioned in the verses related to the Orisha (deities) associated with wealth and prosperity, reflecting the name's connection to affluence and respect.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Fola. One of the most prominent was Fola Agoro (c. 1670-1729), a renowned Yoruba ruler who served as the Alafin (king) of the Oyo Empire during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His reign was marked by territorial expansion and the establishment of important trade routes.
Another significant figure was Fola Oyede (1805-1887), a renowned Yoruba trader and diplomat who played a crucial role in fostering economic and cultural ties between the Oyo Empire and the European colonial powers in the 19th century.
In the realm of literature, Fola Igbinoba (1924-2001) was a celebrated Nigerian playwright and poet, known for his vivid portrayals of traditional Yoruba life and his efforts to preserve the cultural heritage of his people.
The name Fola also found its way into the annals of sports history with Fola Ekundayo (1960-present), a Nigerian-born British boxer who achieved notable success in the lightweight division during the 1980s and 1990s.
Lastly, Fola Ayam (1955-present) is a prominent Nigerian-American artist and sculptor, whose works have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, celebrating the rich cultural heritage and artistic traditions of the Yoruba people.
People
Fola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fola as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fola going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about - US residents.
Is Fola a common name?
We classify Fola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fola most popular?
The single biggest year for Fola was 1912, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fola is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 170 people with the name Fola, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,346 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Fola in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Fola?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Fola on both sides of the split. Of the 176 people counted with this name, 71 were male (40.3%) and 105 were female (59.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Fola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fola is Black at 81.8%. The next largest groups are White (8.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Fola most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Fola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (139 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Fola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fola a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fola in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Fola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fola in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Fola can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Fola as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.