Sometime around 1883, Enola Miller was born in Pennsylvania. Viola, Lola, Leola, Nola, and just Ola were the Mia, Leah, and Thea of their day. Girl names ending with -ola were enjoying a burst of popularity in the 1880s. She called Enola’s children Alcia and Baring.Įnola wasn’t a stretch – and Ridenbaugh wasn’t the first to use it. The author clearly loved dramatic, one-of-one names. Ridenbaugh’s character, Enola Dale, spoke of her loneliness, musing that her parents “must have known of her future isolation” when they chose her name. E-N-O-L-A SPELLS ALONE … BACKWARDSīack in 1886, author Mary Young Ridenbaugh used the name for her novel Enola or, Her fatal mistake. Thanks to Dotmyiis for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
The baby name Enola started out as a literary invention, and fiction continues to keep this name in the spotlight.
