Zola is best known as the surname of the French novelist Émile Zola, an Italian name possibly from zolla, "clod of earth"; as a given name it is also used in southern Africa, where it is usually explained from the Zulu word for "calm". The South African runner Zola Budd made it a household name in the 1980s. Zola entered the US top 1000 in 2018, peaked at number 935 in 2020 and ranks number 1338 in 2025.