Noah
- Pronunciation
- [Noah]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Comfort
- Origin
- Hebrew
About the Name Noah
Noah descends from the Hebrew Noach, traditionally derived from nuach meaning "rest" or "comfort." The biblical Noah is one of the most consequential figures of the Hebrew Bible: the righteous patriarch who, according to Genesis, built the Ark to save his family and pairs of every animal species from the Great Flood that destroyed all other life on Earth. Noah's narrative — the construction of the Ark, the 40 days of rain, the dove-and-olive-branch sign, the covenant rainbow — is one of the foundational origin-and-redemption stories of Western religious tradition.
The name carries layered religious weight across Abrahamic traditions: Noah (Nuh in Arabic) is recognized as a major prophet in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Genesis covenant — God's promise never again to destroy life by flood, sealed by the rainbow — became a foundational theological statement of divine mercy. Noah was rare in pre-modern English-language naming despite the biblical anchor, becoming common only through 17th-century Puritan Old Testament revival.
The contemporary American Noah surge is one of the most striking modern naming-trend events: the name climbed from outside the US top 100 in 1980 to the US #1 boys' rank from 2013 through 2016 — making Noah one of only a handful of names to hold the US #1 position multiple times in the modern era. Notable bearers include American actor Noah Wyle (the long-running ER series), American filmmaker Noah Baumbach (Oscar-nominated for Marriage Story and The Squid and the Whale), and the fictional Noah Calhoun of Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook. The name's appeal is its compact biblical depth — two short syllables, religiously anchored across Abrahamic traditions, and tonal warmth distinctive to Hebrew-derived names. Common nicknames are scarce since the name is already short — No, Noey, and the rare Noi each occasionally appear. International forms include Noé (French/Spanish, with accent), Noè (Italian, with grave accent), Nuh (Arabic), and the original Hebrew Noach.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Noah
US Popularity History (1995–2025)
Annual US births named Noah by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 20,358 boys named Noah (boy rank #2 that year).
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Where in the US Is Noah Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Noah the strongest states are Illinois, California, Connecticut.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illinois | #1 | 6,477 |
| 2 | California | #1 | 23,503 |
| 3 | Connecticut | #1 | 2,147 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | #1 | 6,292 |
| 5 | Michigan | #1 | 4,404 |
| 6 | Rhode Island | #2 | 602 |
| 7 | Delaware | #2 | 518 |
| 8 | Hawaii | #2 | 561 |
| 9 | New Mexico | #2 | 1,016 |
| 10 | North Carolina | #2 | 5,634 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyoming | #18 | 160 |
| 2 | Vermont | #12 | 187 |
| 3 | Idaho | #11 | 640 |
| 4 | Montana | #11 | 347 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | #10 | 522 |
| 6 | Maine | #10 | 433 |
| 7 | Utah | #10 | 1,527 |
| 8 | South Dakota | #10 | 359 |
| 9 | North Dakota | #9 | 375 |
| 10 | Minnesota | #8 | 2,070 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Noah in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Noah
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Noah.
- Noah Webster — Novelist (1758)
Looking for names like Noah?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Noah to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Noah against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
Noah Baby Name Ideas
- Baby Names for Last Names Starting With T: Keep the T Seam Clear Without Overcorrecting
- Do You Need a One-Syllable Middle Name? When a Short Anchor Helps—and When It Flattens the Full Name
- Baby Names for Last Names With an Apostrophe: Keep the Full Name Clear on Forms and Aloud
- Baby Names for Consonant-Heavy Last Names: Creating Space Without Losing Character
- Should a Baby's Name Match the Parents' Names? Creating Family Cohesion Without a Theme
- Should You Avoid a Baby Name Because Everyone Around You Is Using It? A Local Popularity Test
- When Relatives Pronounce the Family Surname Differently: Choosing a First Name That Works With Both
- How to Choose a Baby Name When You Work With Children
- Choosing Between a Popular and an Uncommon Baby Name Without Chart Anxiety
- How to Choose a Baby Name When Parents Have Opposite Styles
- The Best Middle Names for Alexander: Short Pairings for a Four-Syllable Classic
- Two-Middle-Name Baby Names: How to Build a Full Name That Still Moves
- Baby Names for Vowel-Heavy Last Names: Clear First Names That Add Shape
- The Best Middle Names for Ethan: Steady Pairings for a Gentle Biblical Classic
- The Best Middle Names for Ezra: Bright Biblical Pairings With a Clean Landing
- Soft Boy Names: Gentle Choices with Quiet Strength
- The Best Middle Names for Elijah: A Sound-First Pairing Guide
- Globally Portable Baby Names: Names That Travel Well Across Languages & Cultures
- Two-Syllable Baby Names: The Rhythm That Sounds Right Out Loud
- Sibling Names That Go With Olivia and Liam: A Guide to Names That Sound Like Family