Name of the Day: Noa
It could be the perfect name – short, simple, oft-used in the Bible with a pan-global vibe. But she’s been eclipsed by an unrelated, chart-topping choice for boys.
Can Noa emerge from Noah’s shadow? Thanks to Katharine for suggesting today’s Name of the Day.
Noah and his family gathered the animals two by two and weathered the Biblical deluge. Puritan parents loved the story, and used his name for their sons. You’ll meet plenty of small boys called Noah today, too. In 2007, he held the #14 slot. Our best guess is that he’s not leaving the Top 20 anytime soon, so figure on around 16,000 boys receiving the name this year alone.
But there’s another Noa in the Bible, and she has completely different roots. Noah comes from the word for rest; Noa is derived from a word meaning movement. In Hebrew, Noah’s final “h” would not be silent - making the two names truly distinct. In modern English usage, they sound exactly the same.
The other Biblical Noa is one of Zelophehad’s five daughters. Back then, women couldn’t inherit. But Zelophehad had no sons, and his daughters appealed to Moses. While they had to promise not to marry outside their tribe, the women did indeed receive the property. It’s a nice little feminist spin on an ancient name.
Speaking of spin, if you’re hoping for a name that works in a range of languages, Noa is also claimed as a Japanese name, loosely translated as “my love” and an Arabic name meaning light. We can’t confirm how common Noa is in Japan, but she does show up in anime and manga. The Arabic connection is a stretch – we always thought nur meant light, and Noor was the preferred transcription of the feminine name.
Nonetheless, Noa is big in Europe. She recently ranked #56 in Belgium, #40 in Spain and #12 in the Netherlands. And in Israel? She’s held the #1 spot since 2005. Noa wears well nearly anywhere.
In the US, plenty of our daughters wear boys’ names. Stop by the average elementary school, and chances are you can find girls called Madison, Taylor, Morgan, Mackenzie, Jordan, Riley, Avery and Kennedy. These names have been embraced because they were once reserved for boys. It almost seems like Noa would offer the perfect compromise – nearly masculine, but clearly feminine.
Factor in the popularity of short names for girls – #4 Ava and #15 Mia – plus Emma, Ella, Anna, Maya, Leah, Zoe and Chloe – and Noa seems like a home run.
Instead, she seems to be stuck in the middle. Noa is too soft to please parents determined to find a gender neutral choice for their girls – those moms and dads are considering Hadley and Maguire. And for those interested in lesser used Biblical appellations, the chances that their child’s name will be confused with Noah forever and ever, amen, is equally off-putting.
It all leaves Noa in limbo. We love her simple sound and style, as well as her history. But inevitably, your daughter would go through life protesting that she’s not wearing a boys’ name and no, it isn’t spelled with an h.
It’s one of our favorite short names, but we suspect that Isla has a better chance of taking off, at least in the US.
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Noa/h sounds wishy washy to me on either sex.Maybe it’s just because I grew up in a heavily Italian, blue collar community in NJ and Noa/h sounds like one of the ancient ones saying “No, I”. I’m not a fan of those “short” names either.
I wouldn’t have a problem with it on someone else’s kid, don’t get me wrong. but it makes me wince, so unfeminine sounding, so plain. I just prefer something else, both sound wise & visually. Noa’s okay but so very not for me. Sorry Katharine, Noa’s one I just can’t make myself like.
I like Noa, but I don’t think I would use it because of the fact that Noah is so popular for boys and when the little girl goes to school, her teachers would be doing their roll call and they’d think she is a boy at first. I wouldn’t want her to have to explain to other kids why she has a boy’s name. Also, Miley Cyrus’s little sister is named Noah and I am not a fan of Miley at all so that ruins it for me. Otherwise, it’s a pretty name.
I like Noah for a boy, but it is too common for my taste. I would save it for a middle name and come up with a unique first name to go with it.
Laney, I completely missed Miley’s little sis – but I’m sure she’s not the only female Noah out there.
I think Noa’s simplicity works for a lot of parents seeking a nickname-proof name, but being mistaken for a boy AND having to spell your name every single time? To me, that’s two headaches too many.
But if I lived in Spain or Belgium, I’d be all about Noa. Except then I’d probably find it too common.
I think it’s cute, but like you said, it would be misspelled ALL THE TIME! I wouldn’t be worried so much about people thinking she’s a boy, since boy names for girls are so popular these days, but the spelling thing would be awful! People would think you were just trying to be clever. I grew up with no one ever spelling my name right (even aunts and uncles), and trust me, it’s annoying!
I quite love Noa! Oh I would use it in a heartbeat if the misspelling thing wasn’t an issue. I think it’s perfect for a no nickname name, and it’s just adorable! I love the juxtaposition of the o and the a.
As for people thinking Noa is a boy, there are SO many boys names on girls these days, I’m not sure anyone’s ready to make any assumptions anymore!
At a party a while ago the subject turned to girls names with everyone citing their favourite – the likes of Freya, Daisy, Amelie, Ruby & Isabella all came up, none of which remotely surprised me. Until one friend tentatively suggested that she rather liked Noa, well you could have knocked me for six! (and everyone else, judging by their lack of comment). Why hadn’t a name nut like me ever come across, let alone considered Noa? After all, she has a clean, breezy, simple style in keeping with the current zeitgeist, surely she is just tredding water, waiting (like Mia, Ava and Isla before her) to be discovered?
Well, as Appellation Mountain has noted, Noa’s ultimate stumbling block will always lie in her confusion with Noah. While I might like the idea of her on a sleek, fashionable Eurorepean woman, in practice she doesn’t feel quite right to me. I know I’m generalising here, but I doubt whether Brits would ever get past Noa’s likeness to Noah, and even if we could, my guess is that her gender neutrality would probably always be a sticking point – after all we are a nation who like our girls names to be just that – girly girls names.
Hello.
I was intrigued to find your post. My husband and I just named our daughter Noa Miranda.
She was born last Monday AM on September 22nd, well before her due date and will be in the NICU for a long time. We love her name and while we hadn’t picked a name yet we decided on Noa because, quite frankly we want her to keep moving. The NICU nurses ask me if she moved as much in utero as she does now and yes, she did so when we learned Noa meant movement, it was final, Noa was her name.
As for Miranda, it is the name of an artist I love but also means unique and amazing. We wanted something feminine as a middle name as well.
Kelsey
mom to Leila Bea Swan and Noa Miranda
Hi Kelsey! Congrats on the birth of Noa Miranda! You and yours will be in my thoughts. Please drop back in and let us know when Noa comes home. She’ll always have a great story behind her name – and plenty of motivation to keep taking on new challenges.
dear kelsey and dennis, welcome to noa, i am sure she will be home soon. congradulations.
I love the name Noa for a girl. I think it’s absolutely beautiful. Confusing it with the boy’s name Noah is certainly going to happen, but it is a fully feminine name with its own unique history – nothing to do with the male Noah story – its own spelling and in my opinion, Noa is a little jewel of a name.
We also just named our baby daughter Noa. We have a very long last name and it flows wonderfully. We have had a couple nurses refer to her as “he” at the dr.’s office, but I’m sure once she gets older and has longer hair, it will be less of an issue.
Congrats on the new daughter – what a great name!
And I’m convinced that you could call your little one Arabella, dress her in pink ribbons and lace and still have her referred to as “he” now and again.
Hi, we just named our baby girl Noa. I discovered this name 15 years ago when I came across the wonderful israeli singer Achinoam Nini, also known as Noa. When the israeli PM Rabin was murdered, I was moved to tears when I heard his grand-daughter talk in public about him, and about the peace process in the middle-east.
Since then, it has always been clear to me that my daughter would be named Noa.
I love the sound, the meaning and the history of this name. It is original without sounding pretentious, it is simple without being boring and it can be easily pronounced in every language (my husband is English, I am French and we live in Italy).
Our little Noa is only 1 month old (born 5 weeks early) but we have had countless comments about her name and the “h” issue. But I don’t care about people’s ignorance !!!! To me, it is the most beautiful girl’s name ever !!!!
My name is Noa, I live in Italy and I love my name
In my 50 years I’ve never had problem with my name, I think that “Noa” bring me good luck