Koa
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Meaning
brave, warrior; native tree
The story
Koa is Hawaiian for brave, the warrior, and also the islands' great native tree, whose wood built canoes and surfboards, which means the name carries courage and craftsmanship in one syllable pair. It arrived after a night of -lani sisters, a Hawaiian brother among the island girls, and it is surging harder than almost anything: about 480 in the 2000s, 1,800 in the 2010s, and already 6,100 so far this decade, more than three times the full 2010s with years to run, a live riser in Wrenley and Aziel's class. In our records it goes mostly to boys, about 7,700 to 850. The tree grows only in Hawaii and the wood is prized everywhere; the name is now running the same trade route, island-rooted, continent-bound, and appreciating.
How popular is Koa around the world?
In the United States, 6,128 babies were named Koa between 2020 and 2025. In New Zealand, 68 boys named Koa were registered in 2025.
Koa is on the official records of the United States, New Zealand, New South Wales, Scotland, England and Wales, South Australia, Ireland, Canada, Austria, Argentina and Spain.
United States
1 in 3,600
In the United States, 6,128 babies were named Koa between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Koa peaked in the 2020s. Koa went to 173 US babies in 2015 and 1,413 in 2025, 8.2 times as many.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
New Zealand
1 in 850
In New Zealand, 68 boys named Koa were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
New South Wales
#50 · 2025
In New South Wales, 144 boys named Koa were registered in 2025, ranked 50th in that year’s top 100 for boys.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
Scotland
1 in 1,800
In Scotland, 26 boys named Koa were registered in 2024, the 169th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 2,100
In England and Wales, 259 boys named Koa were born in 2025, the 199th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
South Australia
1 in 2,6002017
In South Australia, 5 boys were registered as Koa in 2017.
In South Australia, 2 girls were registered as Koa in 2017.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Ireland
1 in 3,600
In Ireland, 15 boys named Koa were born in 2025, the 286th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 4,400
In Canada, 72 boys named Koa were born in 2024, the 431st most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 boy named Koa was born in 2025, ranked 1,842nd among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Argentina
1 in 330,000
In Argentina, 2 newborns were given the name Koa in 2024.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Spain
1 in 470,000
In Spain, 95 residents are named Koa, ranked 8,615th among men, with a mean age of 4 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Not on the record in Mexico City, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Koa
Most people given the name Koa in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Koa · Hawaiian baby names · Short names · Climbers and fallers
The Koa deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Koa truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Koa fits with your family’s names and surname.
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