Koda
Meaning
“Dakota/Sioux word meaning 'friend'”
The story
Koda is the Dakota word for a man's friend, kȟolá in its Lakota cognate form, one Siouan idea in two dialect dresses, the way names wear spellings, and it walked into American nurseries through a bear: Disney's Brother Bear put a cub named Koda on screen in 2003, and the record answers immediately, about 850 that decade after almost none before. Then it kept going on its own: 2,300 in the 2010s and already 4,290 this decade, nearly double the previous total with years to run, well past the movie's shadow. The shape sits beside Kai and Koa and Cody, two syllables on an open a; the meaning, friend, needs no translation. Dakota, the tribal name at about 134,600, stands nearby. The bear opened the door; the word itself keeps it open.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Koda peaked in the 2020s.
When you meet Koda
Most people given the name Koda 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.
The Koda deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Koda 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 Koda fits with your family’s names and surname.
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