Takoda
Masculine
Takoda is given to both — 1,790 boys and 129 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Takoda entered American naming in the nineteen-nineties along with a set of names presented as Native American, and it is worth separating what is documented from what was supplied by naming books. The word behind it is real; the gloss usually printed with it is a formulation.
How old is the name Takoda?
Takoda first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Takoda alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,800 people named Takoda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Takoda most popular?
Takoda peaked in 1998, reaching #1189 nationally. Today it ranks #2833, 1,644 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Takoda
Our story of Takoda is about the difference between a word and a gloss. Dakota, Lakota and Nakota are three names for one people and all three carry the sense of allies — of those who are joined. That much is solid, and it is a genuinely fine thing for a name to point at. What happened next is a publishing story: American baby-name books in the late twentieth century assembled lists of Native names, often at second and third hand, and the tidy English phrases beside them were written for the page rather than found in the language. Takoda came through that channel. The word it stands near is real. The sentence beside it was ours.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The gloss 'friend to everyone' appears in almost every source and in none of them with a citation. What is genuine: Dakota and Lakota have words for friend and ally — khola in Lakota, and the people's own name Dakota carries the sense of ally — and a form close to takoda appears in that family of words. The step from those words to this name, and the specific 'to everyone', are not documented. The root is real and the phrase attached to it was written by somebody making a list.
Pronouncing Takoda
tah-KOH-dah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. There is no ambiguity in the English saying; how the word runs in Dakota is a separate question and not one the American name settles.
Nicknames for Takoda
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
- 1993
- Most boys named
- 1998104 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1189reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −21.4%44 in 2025, from 56
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.
Takoda in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Oklahoma, North Carolina.
Takodas among us
people named Takoda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 38,820 born in 2025 was named Takoda
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 Fransisco test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Takoda's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Fransisco climbed just as high around 1981, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Fransisco's path sketches the road Takoda is walking now.
Takoda 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 Takoda is headed
Takoda should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Takoda beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Takoda in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three open syllables, easy for English speakers, and correctly said at first sight.
- Koda is a natural short form and a name of its own in current American use.
- Distinctive without being difficult, which few borrowed names manage.
- The 'friend to everyone' meaning printed everywhere has no source behind it.
- Taking a name from a Native language is read differently by different people, and it is worth deciding deliberately.
- It is closely tied to one decade of American naming, which will be audible later.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Takoda to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Takoda
Masculine · #2833 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Takodas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Takoda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Takoda in 2025?
- Takoda ranks #2833 among US boy names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Takoda?
- About 1 in every 38,820 US boys born in 2025 was named Takoda — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Takoda with classmates?
- Takoda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Takoda
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 Takoda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Takoda 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.
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
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