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Noa

NO-uh
Hebrew
"rest, repose; motion"
Sophie Kihm
By Sophie Kihm
Updated Tue Jan 14 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, Hawaii, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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.

Noa Popularity

Famous People Named Noa

  • Noa Benninga
    Dutch soccer player