Noa

Noa for girls#226 US

Borne by a female figure in the Old Testament named Noa (or Noah), this form of the name derives from the Hebrew No'ah, meaning "motion". The popular Biblical male name Noah is derived from a different Hebrew origin: Noach, meaning "rest, repose".

Noa is the established, modern Hebrew spelling of the female name, but it may also be found as a variant spelling of the male name Noah – popular in countries including France, Wales, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As such, Noa is still a unisex choice.

Additionally, Noa also has roots in Japanese, in which it means "my love, my affection", adding to the versatility of this short moniker. In this case, it would be pronounced NO-A, with emphasis on both syllables.

Noa for boys#1006 US

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.