Lola (given name)

Lola

A statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, the title for the Virgin Mary from which the name Lola is derived.
Gender	female
Origin
Word/name	Spanish short form of Dolores and German short form of Aloisia
Meaning	"sorrows"
Region of origin	Spain
Other names
Related names	Dolores, Lolita

Lola is a feminine given name, a short form of the Spanish name Dolores, meaning "sorrows", a name taken from a title of the Virgin Mary: Virgen Maria de los Dolores, or Our Lady of Sorrows. Lola may also be used as a short form of the unrelated German name Aloisia. The name Lola is also common in Africa, in Nigeria, the Yoruba tribe has many feminine names that are shortened to Lola, such as Temilola which means 'Wealth is mine', Olufunmilola which means 'God has given me wealth', Damilola which means 'Prosper me'. The short form Lola has been rising in popularity in several countries in the past decade. It was the 270th most popular name for baby girls born in the United States in 2007, up from 279th place in 2006 and 375th place in 2005; was ranked as the 64th most popular name for baby girls in Spain in 2006; was ranked as the 51st most popular name for baby girls in England and Wales in 2007; was the 17th most popular name for baby girls in France in 2004; and was the 20th most popular name for baby girls in Belgium in 2006.

Though the name originated with a title for the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, Lola has also acquired a number of contrasting sensual associations. Authors Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz noted in their 2008 book Cool Names for Babies that the name has a sultry image and that people associate the name with the song "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets" from the musical Damn Yankees, in which the character of Lola is the Devil's "best homewrecker." The name also has associations with the Irish-born Lola Montez, who became famous in the nineteenth century as an actress, Spanish dancer, courtesan and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Lolita, a diminutive form of the name, is associated with the 1955 novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov about a pedophile's obsession with a 12-year-old girl, Lolita. "Lolita" has since become a term for a sexually precocious young girl. In 1992, 16-year-old Amy Fisher gained notoriety as the "Long Island Lolita" after she shot her much older lover's wife. The name's sexually-charged image is also due to associations with Lola, a 1970 The Kinks song about a young man's encounter with a transvestite named Lola.

The title character in the 1998 German film Run Lola Run may also have raised the name's profile, as has Lola, a clever and inquisitive child character in a recently published series of children's picture books by Lauren Child.

The naming of several children of celebrities in the past decade has increased the popularity of the name. Madonna uses the nickname "Lola" for her daughter Lourdes Leon, born in 1996. Entertainers Kelly Ripa, Chris Rock, Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, Carnie Wilson and Annie Lennox all have daughters named Lola. The name was also used for a granddaughter of Camilla Parker Bowles.

Lola Montez, Irish-born actress, dancer, courtesan, and mistress of a king.

Lola (Uzbek for tulip) is also a feminine name in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan.

People named Lola

• Lola, a pornographic movie actress
• Lola, a French singer
• Lola the Vamp, Australian burlesque dancer
• Lola Albright, American singer and actress
• Lola Almudevar, British journalist and news reporter
• Lola Alvarez Bravo, Mexican photographer
• Lola Anglada, Catalan writer and illustrator
• Lola Astanova, Russian-born classical pianist
• Lola Beltrán, Mexican ranchera singer
• Lola Berthet, Argentine actress
• Lola Bobesco, Belgian violinist of Romanian origin
• Lolah Burford, American author
• Lola Cotton, American vaudeville hypnotist and mentalist of the early 20th century
• Lola Dueñas, Spanish actress
• Lola Falana, American dancer and actress
• Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer, and actress
• Lola Forner, Spanish actress
• Lola Gaos, Spanish actress
• Lola Glaudini, American actress
• Lola Graham, Australian musician
• Lola Herrera, Spanish actress
• Lola Kutty, alter ego of Indian entertainer Anuradha Menon
• Lola Lane, American actress
• Lola J. May, American mathematics educator, author and consultant
• Lola Lemire Tostevin, Canadian poet and novelist
• Lola Luv, Ethiopian-born hip hop model
• Lola Martinez, news broadcaster
• Lola Montez, Irish-born actress and dancer and courtesan
• Lola Mora, Argentine sculptor
• Lola Muñoz, Spanish singer
• Lola Novaković, Serbian writer
• Lola Pagnani, Italian actress
• Lola Ridge, Irish-born anarchist poet and editor of Marxist publications
• Lola Rodríguez de Tio, Puerto Rican poet
• Lola Sanchez, Australian actress
• Lola Todd, American actress
• Lola Van Wagenen Redford, consumer advocate and ex-wife of Robert Redford
• Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, British artist, writer, and peer

Fictional characters

• Lola Luftnagle, alter ego of the character Lilly Truscott on the Disney TV series Hannah Montana.
• Lola Limekiller, a minor character in the comic strip Bloom County.
• Lola Mbola, character in animated French television series Robotboy.
• Lola, a character on the Spanish television series Lola & Virginia
• Lola...Erase una vez
• Lola Jonze, a character in Britannia High
• Lola Boa, in Brandy and Mr. Whiskers
• Lola Cep, in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
• Lola Lola, a dancer played by Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel
• Lola Martinez, in Zoey 101
• Lola Osborne, in Sister Carrie
• Lola is the name of the titular character of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1981 film Lola.
• Lola Bunny, a character from the Looney Tunes universe
• Lola, a character in Graham Greene's 1937 short story "The Innocent"
• L-o-l-a Lola is the subject of The Kinks' 1970 hit of the same name.
• Lola "La Trailera" (Lola "The Truck Driver"), a fictitional character for Mexican Actress Rosa Gloria Chagoyán that made her a Mexican action and low budget films in the seventies.
• Lola Lovell, the name of Kylie Minogue's character in the 1989 film, The Delinquents.
• Lola Quincey, 15 year-old cousin of protagonist Briony Tallis in the novel 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan
• Lola,the name of Miley Cyrus's character in the 2012 movie LOL