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Noa

NO-uh
Hebrew
"rest, repose; motion"
Sophie Kihm
By Sophie Kihm
Updated Sun Jun 22 2025

Noa Origin and Meaning

The name Noa is a boy's name meaning "rest, repose; motion".

Okay, this might be a little confusing...

There is a female figure in the Old Testament named Noa or Noah, whose name derives from the Hebrew No'ah, meaning "motion". The popular Biblical male name Noah (sometimes spelled as the streamlined Noa) is derived from a different Hebrew name: Noach "rest, repose" – although confusingly they are often written the same in English.

Noa is the modern Hebrew spelling of the female name, and is very popular for girls in Israel, as well as in several European countries, including Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. But Noa is also a popular spelling of the male name Noah in countries including France, Wales, Hawaii, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina — and as of 2024, the US, where it was one of the fastest rising names of the year and entered the Top 1000.

Just to throw another meaning into the mix, noa can also mean "free" or "freedom" in Hawaii, and appears as an element in names such as Kainoa and Kanoa. It might also be found in the Hawaiian name Nāinoa, however here it comes from inoa meaning "namesake".

So is a boy named Noa named after a female Biblical figure (whose name means "motion") or a male one (meaning "rest")? That's up to you! The ideal of gender neutrality means nothing belongs exclusively to one sex or the other, and that includes the spellings of Noa/Noah.

# 985 in the US

Noa Rank in US Top 1000

Popularity of the name Noa

20 Names Similar to Noa

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Noa.

Famous People Named Noa

  • Noa Benninga
    Dutch soccer player

The name Noa in Nameberry Blog Posts