Koda
Masculine · “friend”
Koda is given to both — 6,919 boys and 654 girls since 1880. See Koda as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Koda is a short, open-vowelled name that lands in two beats and rhymes with soda — easy to say the first time you hear it, easy to spell after you've seen it once. It sits close to Dakota, the name it is most often clipped from, and to the Dakota-language word koda, meaning friend or companion. Its wave in the United States is genuinely recent, which is why nearly everyone carrying it is still young.
How old is the name Koda?
Koda first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Koda is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 6,900 people named Koda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Koda most popular?
Koda peaked in 2025, reaching #410 nationally. Today it ranks #410, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Koda appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Dakota to Koda
The story of Koda
The word koda belongs to the Dakota language, where it means friend or companion, and it is recorded in nineteenth-century missionary dictionaries of Dakota alongside its relatives in Lakota. As an English given name, Koda arrived much later and by a second route: Dakota became a widely used American first name in the later twentieth century, and Koda followed it as a natural two-syllable clip. The name also reached a wide audience through the bear cub named Koda in Disney's animated film Brother Bear, released in 2003, after which its use on the American charts climbed steadily. It remains strongest in the large western and southern states.
Meaningscholars disagree
friend, companion (Dakota); also a short form of Dakota
Two readings sit side by side and support each other. In the Dakota language, koda (also written khoda) means friend or companion. Separately, Koda works as a clipped form of the given name Dakota, itself from the name of the Dakota people. Which route a particular family took is usually a matter of that family's own story rather than linguistics.
How the name formed
- Dakota
- Koda
Pronouncing Koda
KOH-duh
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with soda. Spoken aloud it is often heard as Cody, so the K is worth saying clearly when spelling it out.
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
- 1984
- Most boys named
- 2025778 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #410reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +16.6%778 in 2025, from 667
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kodas among us
people named Koda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,195 born in 2025 was named Koda
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Koda
- #410
- Koda on the 2025 chart
- #348
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Koda went to 778 boys in 2025, but Coda, Kodah and Codah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 894, which makes it the 348th most-given boys’ name of the year — 62 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 1,911 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,195 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 Aldo 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: Aldo climbed just as high around 2002, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aldo's path sketches the road Koda is walking now.
Koda 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 Koda is headed
Koda looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 22% 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 boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and four letters, phonetic in English — most people get the pronunciation right on first sight.
- Already short, so it needs no nickname to work at home, on a roster, or in adulthood.
- Carries a documented meaning in the Dakota language, friend or companion, which is a rare thing for a modern short name.
- Sits naturally beside the far more common Dakota, giving a family a longer form on the birth certificate if they want one.
- It will be heard as Cody, and written as Cody, fairly often. Expect a lifetime of spelling it out — a small tax, but a real one.
- Koda is a popular dog name in the United States, and someone will make that joke. It passes, but it is worth knowing before you commit.
- The Dakota-language meaning is real, and some families want to be sure they can speak about that origin respectfully rather than decoratively.
- Its use is very recent, so there are almost no adult Kodas to point to. That means no ready-made associations, good or bad — the name arrives largely unwritten.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Koda to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Koda? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Koda
Masculine · #410 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 6,900 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 — 778 of the 894 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Coda, Kodah, Codah and Khoda.
- How popular is the name Koda in 2025?
- Koda ranks #410 among US boy names in 2025, with 778 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Koda?
- About 1 in every 2,195 US boys born in 2025 was named Koda — 778 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.
Eduardo#410 · Rhys#410 · Hector#409 · Remy#408 · Hank#413 · Augustus#407 · Leandro#406 · Cayden#414
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Koda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Koda and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle