Smola Family History

Polish (Smoła) and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic; also Smoła): metonymic occupational name for a distiller or burner of pitch from Polish smoła East Slavic smola ‘pitch tar’ (compare below). See also Smolka.

Czech Slovak Croatian and Slovenian: metonymic occupational name for a person who gathered natural resins from pines and firs or for a distiller or burner of pitch from smola ‘resin pitch’ (compare above); also a nickname for an unlucky person since in these languages the figurative sense of smola is ‘bad luck’ (compare Pech).

At least in Czech it could also be a nickname for someone with very dark hair or for a slow person.