Buna
Feminine
Buna is a rare American name with no documented origin. In Ethiopia the same word means coffee, and it names a ceremony rather than a drink: roasting, grinding and brewing done in front of guests, three rounds, over an hour or more.
How old is the name Buna?
Buna first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Buna alive today was born around 1918, making them about 107 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Buna are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Buna most popular?
Buna peaked in 1882, reaching #678 nationally. See the whole 1882 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Buna
Coffee is native to the Ethiopian highlands, where the plant grows wild, and the Amharic word for it is buna. The buna ceremony is a piece of ordinary hospitality with a fixed shape: green beans are roasted in a pan in the room, the smoke is passed around, the beans are ground, and the coffee is brewed in a clay pot and poured from a height into small cups, three times over, with the third round carrying a blessing. Refusing is not really done. The plant went from there to Yemen, where it was cultivated and traded, and from there to the world, which is why the drink carries an Arabic name everywhere except the place it came from.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source has been documented in American records. The Amharic word is a coincidence of spelling rather than an established origin, and it would be dishonest to hand a family a meaning on that basis.
Pronouncing Buna
BOO-nuh
Two syllables with the stress in front. BYOO-nuh is also heard from readers meeting it cold.
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 191533 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #678reached in 1882
- Change vs 2021
- 0.0%6 in 2023, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Bunas among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Buna are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Buna sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables: about as easy as a name gets to write and to learn.
- It is genuinely rare in the American record, which very few names can honestly claim.
- It is soft and clear and carries well over a phone line.
- Two pronunciations are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- The word means coffee in Amharic, which Ethiopian and Eritrean neighbors will notice immediately.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing settled to answer with.
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Buna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Bunas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Buna are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Buna in 2025?
- Buna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Buna with classmates?
- Buna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Buna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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