Cuba
Cuba Origin and Meaning
Soul singer Cuba Gooding and his actor son of the same name put this unexpected geographical name on the map for boys, but it has a longer history of use than you might expect. Deriving from the island in the Caribbean Sea, it had a brief spell of popularity in the US at the end of the 1890s when Spain lost possession of the island during the Spanish-American War. Used predominantly (though rarely) on girls throughout the last century, it has occasionally be given to a handful of boys too.
The exact meaning and origins of the place name are unknown, though it is conjectured that it comes from the extinct Taíno language and could mean "where the fertile land is abundant" or "great place". Alternatively, it could derive from the Palace of Cuba in Italy, whose name might literally come from the word cubical or from the Arabic Qubba meaning "dome" — in reference to the shape of the building. There is also a Roman Goddess of the name, who helped to carry children from cradle to bed.
Cuba Gooding Sr. was named in honor of his father's first wife, who Dudley Gooding had met and married after fleeing to the island in the 1930s. His wife was later murdered due to her connections to a Pan Africanist leader, and Dudley promised her he would name his first son Cuba, which he kept good on. Cuba Sr. carried on the tradition when he also gave the name to his son.
More recently, social media influencers and YouTube couple, Jess and Gabriel Conte, named their son Cuba Malachi in 2024. The name has raised some eyebrows among their followers for its unusualness — and perhaps because some might think of the fraught history the island has with the US. Nevertheless, it is almost reminiscent of the likes of Luca, Cooper, and Koda so time will tell if other parents begin to consider the name of any gender.
20 Names Similar to Cuba
Famous People Named Cuba
- Cuba Gooding JrAmerican actor