Viola is the Latin word for "violet" and the name of the stringed instrument. Shakespeare's Viola, the shipwrecked heroine of Twelfth Night who disguises herself as a boy, is one of his most beloved characters, and the actress Viola Davis carries the name today. In the United States Viola was a top 100 name a century ago; it has lingered between number 1000 and 1300 for the past decade and reached number 1015 in 2025, its best rank since 2000.