Hoda
Feminine · “Arabic huda”
Arabic writes the consonants and leaves the short vowels out, which is why one Arabic name reaches English as Hoda, Huda and Houda without anyone being wrong. The vowel is not in the original to be copied.
How old is the name Hoda?
Hoda first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Hoda alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 500 people named Hoda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hoda most popular?
Hoda peaked in 1987, reaching #4122 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 5,985 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From huda to Hoda
The story of Hoda
The Arabic script is an abjad: it writes consonants and long vowels and leaves short vowels to the reader, who supplies them from knowing the word. That works well in Arabic and badly at the border. A name written with three letters can be transliterated a dozen ways depending on which English vowel the writer thinks closest, which dialect they speak, and whether they learned the spelling in Cairo, Beirut, Paris or Detroit. Muhammad, Mohamed, Mohammed and Muhamad are one spelling in Arabic; so are Hoda and Huda. American records treat them as separate names and count them separately, which means the data systematically understates how common Arabic names actually are, splitting each one across its transliterations.
Meaning
Arabic huda, right guidance
From Arabic huda, meaning right guidance or the correct path, a central term in the Quran. The English spellings Hoda, Huda and Houda all render the same Arabic word; the variation reflects transliteration rather than pronunciation. The American peak is 1987.
How the name formed
- huda
- Hoda
Related forms: Huda · Houda
Pronouncing Hoda
HOO-dah
Two syllables, stress on the first. The first vowel sits between the English oo and o, which is why both spellings exist.
Nicknames for Hoda
Moderate
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
- 1972
- Most girls named
- 198720 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4122reached in 1987
- Change vs 2024
- +28.6%9 in 2025, from 7
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.
Hoda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Huda in Arabic — spelling variant
- Houda in French — spelling variant
Hodas among us
people named Hoda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Hoda
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Amorette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hoda's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Amorette climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Amorette's path sketches the road Hoda is walking now.
Hoda sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Hoda beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hoda in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables.
- The meaning is a central and entirely positive Arabic term.
- It is an ordinary current name across the Arabic-speaking world.
- Three English spellings compete for one Arabic word.
- The first syllable clips badly in American English.
- It is unfamiliar to most American readers.
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Hoda
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hodas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Hoda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hoda in 2025?
- Hoda ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hoda?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Hoda — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hoda with classmates?
- Hoda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hoda
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hoda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hoda and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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