Koda
Feminine · “friend”
Koda is given to both — 654 girls and 6,919 boys since 1880. See Koda as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Koda is generally given as Lakota for friend or ally — kola — though the spelling is an English adaptation.
How old is the name Koda?
Koda first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Koda is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Koda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Koda most popular?
Koda peaked in 2025, reaching #2276 nationally. Today it ranks #2276, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Koda
Our story of Koda is a story of a word taken sideways. Lakota kola names a formal friend, a specific relationship with obligations, and it is a real word in a living language. American naming picked up the sound — partly through Dakota, partly through a 2003 animated film — and spelled it Koda. It appears in the registers from the 2000s for both sexes. The Lakota word is genuine; the name's descent from it is not documented, and that distinction is worth keeping.
Meaningscholars disagree
friend, ally
Commonly given as Lakota, from kola, 'friend' or a formal companion, though Koda is an English respelling rather than the Lakota word. Some American use is a shortening of Dakota. The Lakota word is genuine; its route into the name is not documented.
Pronouncing Koda
KOH-dah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Lakota kola is KOH-lah with an l.
Nicknames for Koda
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
- 1988
- Most girls named
- 202580 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2276reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +35.6%80 in 2025, from 59
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.
Koda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kola in Lakota — related form
- Kodah in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kodas among us
people named Koda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 20,091 born in 2025 was named Koda
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Koda
- #2276
- Koda on the 2025 chart
- #864
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Koda went to 80 girls in 2025, but Coda and Kodah are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 96, which makes it the 864th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,412 places above the chart.
- Koda80
- Coda11
- Kodah5
About 1 girl in 16,742 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 20,091 for Koda 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 Kadynce test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Koda's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kadynce climbed just as high around 2007, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kadynce's path sketches the road Koda is walking now.
Koda 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
Where Koda is headed
Koda looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Koda beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Koda in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The friend meaning is warm and transparent where it holds.
- Dakota is available as a fuller formal version.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The Lakota word is kola, not koda.
- Using an indigenous word is a choice some families will weigh.
- It is used for both sexes in America.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Koda
Feminine · #2276 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kodas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Koda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Koda?
- Koda is the most-used spelling in US records — 80 of the 96 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Coda and Kodah.
- How popular is the name Koda in 2025?
- Koda ranks #2276 among US girl names in 2025, with 80 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Koda?
- About 1 in every 20,091 US girls born in 2025 was named Koda — 80 in all.
- Will my child share the name Koda with classmates?
- Koda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Koda
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Johana#2276 · Haizley#2276 · Nyah#2276 · Leonie#2276 · Lavinia#2276 · Analise#2276 · Ollie#2276 · Sayla#2276
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Koda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Koda and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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