Kody is a variant of Cody, an Irish surname from Ó Cuidighthigh that means "helpful" or "descendant of the helpful one". The showman Buffalo Bill Cody gave the name its frontier flavor, and both spellings boomed in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. Kody ranked number 350 in 2000 and has declined steadily since, standing at number 1070 in 2025.