This page is historical. Follow this link for the current version.
Dictionary of Medieval Names
from European Sources

Viola f. Latin viola 'violet'.

Cf. also Violet and Yolanda.

While some claim that Shakespeare invented the name for his play 'Twelfth Night', the name was already in use before then, and its inclusion in the play follows his common practice of adopting Italian or Italianate names. The name was also moderately popular in Hungary.

Hungary
Latin
1321 wyola (nom) Slíz p. 502, s.n. Wyola; 1324 Viola (nom) CDH-VIII-II CCLXX, Violae (gen) ibid. CCLXX; 1340 Iwola (abl) Jakubovich p. 366; 1341 yuola (acc) ibid. p. 366; 1344 Viola (nom) AO-vol4 p. 442; 1346 Wyola (nom) Jakubovich p. 426; 1355 vyola (acc) ibid. p. 426; 16thC viola (acc) ibid. p. 426
Italy
Latin
1304 Viola (nom) AnnMin6 XII; 1522x1532 Viola (nom) DSF p. 56, 9
Spain
Spanish
1576 Viola Catalogo-5.2 4024
Ukraine
Latin
1479 Volya (unc) AGZ-18 CVIII-1307, Vyolya (abl) ibid. CVIII-1306, Wolya (unc) ibid. CVIII-1306, Wyola (abl) ibid. CVIII-1307
Cite as: S.L. Uckelman. "Viola". In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2018, no. 1. http://dmnes.org/2018/1/name/Viola.