Koa
Masculine · “brave”
Koa is given to both — 7,702 boys and 846 girls since 1880. See Koa as a girl nameSee other names given to both
In Hawaiian, koa is both a word for bravery and the name of a tree found nowhere else on earth — the great Acacia koa, whose dense, figured wood was shaped into outrigger canoes, surfboards and, later, some of the finest ukuleles ever built. Two syllables, three letters, and nothing in the spelling that has to be explained twice.
How old is the name Koa?
Koa first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Koa is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 7,700 people named Koa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Koa most popular?
Koa peaked in 2025, reaching #269 nationally. Today it ranks #269, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Koa
Koa is a Hawaiian word used as a name. It carries the sense of bravery and of a warrior, and it is also the everyday name of Acacia koa, a tree endemic to the Hawaiian Islands whose timber was worked into canoes, paddles, surfboards and, from the nineteenth century onward, instruments. Its use as a given name beyond Hawaii is recent, and the mainland states where it appears most are the ones facing the Pacific and the Gulf — California above all, then Texas and Florida. Related Polynesian words survive across the region: Māori and Samoan toa also mean warrior, the Hawaiian k answering the t of its cousins.
Meaning
brave, bold, a warrior — and the koa tree of Hawaii
The two senses belong together in Hawaiian: koa names the hard, prized native hardwood as well as courage in a person.
Pronouncing Koa
KOH-ah
Two syllables, both vowels sounded, stress on the first. It is not a single-syllable "koh" — the final a is heard clearly, as in Hawaiian.
Nicknames for Koa
Limited
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
- 1978
- Most boys named
- 20251,281 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #269reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +11.2%1,281 in 2025, from 1,152
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.
Koa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Toa in Māori — related form
- Toa in Samoan — related form
- Toa in Tongan — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Koas among us
people named Koa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,333 born in 2025 was named Koa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Koa
- #269
- Koa on the 2025 chart
- #230
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Koa went to 1,281 boys in 2025, but Koah, Khoa and Coa are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,581, which makes it the 230th most-given boys’ name of the year — 39 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 1,080 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,333 for Koa itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Saul test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Koa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Saul climbed just as high around 1997, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Saul's path sketches the road Koa is walking now.
Koa is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Koa is headed
Koa is on a steep climb — if the curve holds, 2030 could see around 60% more babies given the name than today.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Koa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Koa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, spelled as it sounds; a reader who has never seen it can usually say it on the first try.
- Short enough to sit beside almost any surname or longer middle name without crowding it.
- A real word with a documented meaning in Hawaiian, tied to a specific tree and a specific place.
- Rare enough that a child is unlikely to share it in a classroom, but no longer unfamiliar in the West and along the Gulf.
- Cognates across Polynesian languages — toa in Māori, Samoan and Tongan — give it recognition around the Pacific.
- It is a living Hawaiian word, not a decorative sound. Native Hawaiian families use it with that weight, and parents with no connection to the islands are sometimes asked, kindly or otherwise, where the name came from. Worth having an answer you are comfortable giving.
- It is climbing quickly, which means the name a child hears as unusual in preschool may feel considerably more common by high school.
- Expect occasional mishearings and near-misses: Koda, Kona, Noah, Cody. And it is a well-used dog name, which some families find charming and others would rather know in advance.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Koa to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Koa
Masculine · #269 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Koas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,700 people named Koa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Koa?
- Koa is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,281 of the 1,581 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Koah, Khoa and Coa.
- How popular is the name Koa in 2025?
- Koa ranks #269 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,281 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Koa?
- About 1 in every 1,333 US boys born in 2025 was named Koa — 1,281 in all.
- Will my child share the name Koa with classmates?
- Koa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Koa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cyrus#268 · Karter#270 · Steven#271 · Saint#267 · Bowen#266 · Malcolm#272 · Eric#273 · Bodhi#265
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Koa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Koa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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