Noah
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “rest”
Noah is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 529,602 boys against 5,020 girls since 1880. See Noah as a girl name
Noah comes out of the opening chapters of Genesis, where it belongs to the builder of the ark, and it has been written, copied and read aloud in one language after another ever since. In the mouth it is two open syllables that end on a vowel — nothing to clip, nothing to harden. In American history it also belongs to Noah Webster, whose dictionary settled how much of this country spells.
How old is the name Noah?
Noah was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Noah is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 514,000 people named Noah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Noah most popular?
Noah peaked in 2013, reaching #1 nationally. Today it ranks #2, 1 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Noah appears on these lists:
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- Every #1 name in American history
- America's top 100 names right now
- The top-10 club: every name that made it
- The steadiest names in America
- all guides
Works in British and French families too:
Where it comes from
From Noaḥ (Hebrew) to Noah
The story of Noah
The name is Hebrew, Noaḥ, and reached English through scripture rather than through migration. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote it Nōe, and Latin followed them, which is why French, Spanish and Portuguese still use Noé rather than a form ending in -ah. English took its spelling back from the Hebrew, and after the Reformation, when biblical names spread widely among Protestant families, Noah settled in as an ordinary English given name. The same figure is called Nuh in the Quran, so the story travels under an Arabic form as well.
Meaning
rest, repose — traditionally read as "comfort"
The Hebrew form Noaḥ matches the root nuaḥ, "to rest." Genesis itself plays on a different root, naḥam, "to comfort," when it explains the name — which is why both readings are handed down together.
Cultural footprint
Noah Webster (b. 1758) — The Webster of Webster's Dictionary
Noah Lyles (b. 1997) — Olympic 100m champion — the world's fastest man
Noah Centineo (b. 1996) — To All the Boys I've Loved Before heartthrob
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- NoaḥHebrew
- NōeGreek
- NoeLatin
- NoahEnglish
Related forms: Noé · Noé · Noè · Nuh · Noy (Ной) · Noaḥ (נֹחַ)
Pronouncing Noah
NOH-uh
Stress on the first syllable. The French and Spanish Noé is said no-AY, with the stress on the second syllable — worth knowing if the name will be used in both languages.
Nicknames for Noah
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 202520,358 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1reached in 2013
- Change vs 2022
- +8.5%20,358 in 2025, from 18,758
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.
Noah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Noé in French — same name
- Noé in Spanish — same name
- Noè in Italian — same name
- Nuh in Arabic — same name
- Noy (Ной) in Russian — transliteration
- Noaḥ (נֹחַ) in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics, INSEE. Sources
Noahs among us
people named Noah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 84 born in 2025 was named Noah
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 James test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Noah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: James climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and James's path sketches the road Noah is walking now.
Noah 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 Noah is headed
Noah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Noah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Noah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and familiar enough that it rarely needs repeating or explaining.
- Has a recognized counterpart in French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Hebrew, so it travels without becoming a different name.
- A documented written record going back thousands of years, with no gap where the name fell out of use.
- Short enough that it needs no nickname, which spares a child the shortening they didn't ask for.
- This is a name a child will share. In a school of any size there will likely be another Noah in the building, and possibly one in the same class — worth thinking about alongside a common surname.
- The ark story follows the name. Most Noahs meet cheerful jokes about animals two by two at some point, usually from adults.
- For a girl, this spelling reads as the boy's name to most people, and will often be assumed male on paper. The very close Hebrew girl's name Noa — a separate name, from the daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers — is the form most parents use for daughters.
- Its rise is recent enough that nearly every Noah alive is young. That means no elderly namesakes to grow into, but also no dated feel.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Noah
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #2 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Noahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 514,000 people named Noah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Noah in 2025?
- Noah ranks #2 among US boy names in 2025, with 20,358 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Noah?
- About 1 in every 84 US boys born in 2025 was named Noah — 20,358 in all.
- Will my child share the name Noah with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 3 classrooms will have a child named Noah.
Ranked beside Noah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Oliver#3 · Liam#1 · Theodore#4 · Henry#5 · James#6 · Elijah#7 · Mateo#8 · William#9
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Noah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Noah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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