Kodah
Masculine
Kodah is given to both — 516 boys and 35 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Kodah is a modern American name with a claim attached to it that is worth examining rather than repeating. The claim is that it means friend in a Native language. The word behind that claim is real; the name's connection to it is not recorded.
How old is the name Kodah?
Kodah first appears in US birth records in 2003 — 22 years ago. The typical Kodah is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Kodah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kodah most popular?
Kodah peaked in 2017, reaching #2240 nationally. Today it ranks #2833, 593 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kodah
Our story of Kodah runs through Dakota, which is the part that can be checked. Dakota is what the Dakota people call themselves, and the word means something close to ally or friend — the same idea the naming sites attach to Koda, arriving by a route that is actually documented. American parents took Dakota as a given name, and then, as always happens, they took it apart: Kota, Koda, Kodah. So the friendship in this name may be real after all, sitting at the back of a longer word rather than in the front of a shorter one. That is a better story than the one usually told about it, and it has the advantage of being traceable.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Lakota word khola means friend or companion, and it is genuine and well attested. Koda and Kodah are widely glossed with it on naming sites. What is missing is any record of the step between: the vowels do not match cleanly, and the name appears in American use without a documented derivation. Koda also functions as a short form of Dakota, which is itself a people's name meaning ally or friend — so there may be a real connection, arriving by a different road than the one usually claimed.
Pronouncing Kodah
KOH-dah
Two syllables, stress on the first, the final h silent. There is no ambiguity in the sound; the spelling is where the variation lives.
Nicknames for Kodah
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
- 2003
- Most boys named
- 201759 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2240reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%44 in 2025, from 33
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.
Kodah in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kodahs among us
people named Kodah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 38,820 born in 2025 was named Kodah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kodah
- #2833
- Kodah on the 2025 chart
- #348
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kodah went to 44 boys in 2025, but Koda, Coda 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 — 2,485 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 1,911 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 38,820 for Kodah 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 Benoit test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kodah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Benoit climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Benoit's path sketches the road Kodah is walking now.
Kodah 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 Kodah is headed
Kodah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Kodah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kodah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two easy syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- Five letters, nothing silent except the final h, and easy for a small child to write.
- Short and warm without being a trimming of a name in current use.
- The 'friend' meaning offered for it is not documented, whatever the naming sites say.
- Koda, Kodah and Coda are all in use and the last is also a musical term.
- It sits close to Cody and Dakota and will be assumed to be a form of either.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kodah
Masculine · #2833 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kodahs 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 Kodah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kodah?
- Kodah is one of 5 recorded spellings. Koda is the more common one — 778 births in 2025 against 44 for Kodah.
- How popular is the name Kodah in 2025?
- Kodah ranks #2833 among US boy names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kodah?
- About 1 in every 38,820 US boys born in 2025 was named Kodah — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kodah with classmates?
- Kodah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kodah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bayron#2833 · Odysseus#2833 · Mahlon#2833 · Ward#2833 · Jarvis#2833 · Abriel#2833 · Alain#2833 · Josef#2833
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kodah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kodah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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