Koah is a modern spelling of Koa, a Hawaiian name that means "warrior" or "brave" and is also the name of the prized native koa tree. The silent h at the end mirrors Noah, which makes the name look more familiar to American eyes. Koah had fewer than five births in 2000, climbed from number 4240 in 2015 to number 1084 in 2024 and entered the top 1000 for the first time in 2025 at number 912.