Kodiak
Masculine · “island”
Kodiak is an Alaskan island and the bear that lives on it, and the island's name comes from the Alutiiq word for an island — which is to say the name means, roughly, the island.
How old is the name Kodiak?
Kodiak first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Kodiak alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 800 people named Kodiak are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kodiak most popular?
Kodiak peaked in 1994, reaching #2556 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 1,292 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From qikertaq to Kodiak
The story of Kodiak
Russian traders reached the island in the eighteenth century and rendered the Alutiiq word for island as Kodiak; the settlement they founded was the first Russian one in Alaska. The bears of the island are the largest brown bears anywhere, isolated there since the last glaciation. Its use as a given name is recent, American, and belongs with the taste for names drawn from wild places.
Meaning
island
From Alutiiq qikertaq, an island, taken into Russian and then English as Kodiak; the largest brown bears in the world live there and carry the name, and the pattern of a place being called simply the island is common worldwide.
How the name formed
- qikertaq
- Kodiak
Related forms: Qikertaq · Кадьяк
Pronouncing Kodiak
KOH-dee-ak
Three syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Kodiak
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 boys named
- 201940 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2556reached in 1994
- Change vs 2024
- −3.4%28 in 2025, from 29
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.
Kodiak in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Qikertaq in Alutiiq — related form
- Кадьяк in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Washington.
Kodiaks among us
people named Kodiak are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Kodiak
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 Damain test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kodiak's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Damain climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Damain's path sketches the road Kodiak is walking now.
Kodiak 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 Kodiak is headed
Kodiak 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.
Kodiak beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kodiak in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A real place with a documented indigenous name behind it.
- Kodi is a complete short form in current use.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- The bear is the first association, which is a large image to carry.
- It is an Alutiiq word, and the people whose word it is are still there.
- Kodiak, Kodi and Cody are all close and get confused.
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What they receive
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Kodiak
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kodiaks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Kodiak are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kodiak in 2025?
- Kodiak ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kodiak?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Kodiak — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kodiak with classmates?
- Kodiak will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kodiak
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Stafford#3848 · Dewey#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kodiak? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kodiak 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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