What does Koa mean in Hawaiian?
Koa is a Hawaiian boy name that means brave, bold, fearless, the koa tree. The name comes from koa (warrior, brave, the koa hardwood). It is pronounced KOH-ah, with 2 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Koa belongs with other Hawaiian names about strength, warrior and tree.
The koa tree
Koa is courage and a warrior, and it is also Acacia koa, the largest native tree in Hawaiʻi. The two senses are the same idea: the wood was what warriors' weapons and the great voyaging canoes were made from, so the tree and the fighter share a word.
Koa wood is still among the most valued in the world, used for furniture, bowls and the ukulele. Old-growth koa forest is much reduced, and most of what is milled now comes from salvaged or replanted trees.
The words inside Koa
koa means brave, warrior and appears in 4 Hawaiian names, among them Kekoa, Kaikoa, Nakoa.
How to pronounce Koa
Say every vowel. The vowels in Koa are o as in “go”, a as in “father”. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Koa a boy or girl name?
Koa is listed here as a boy's name. Of the 5,832 U.S. babies given it, 10% were girls and 90% boys.
How often Koa is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 5,832 U.S. babies named Koa from 1978 to 2023 (577 girls, 5,255 boys). It appears in 38 of those 46 years. Its peak came in 2023, with 1,233, and 4,779 were born from 2014 to 2023. In Hawaiʻi itself, 276 babies born in the state were named Koa from 1978 to 2021, with a peak of 21 in 2021. 134 were born there from 2012 to 2021.
How well recorded is Koa?
Koa has its own entry among Wiktionary’s documented Hawaiian given names.