Coda
A concluding passage at the end of a musical composition.
Name Census estimates that about 1,061 living Americans carry the first name Coda. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Coda today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Coda births was 2024 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Coda. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Coda with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Coda is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 323,048 Americans
Peak year
2024
70 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,440
Tracked since 1916
Census
Coda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 906 people with the first name Coda, which placed it at #13,360 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#13,360
National first-name rank
People counted
906
906 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Coda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coda is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.1%) and Hispanic (8.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Coda described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Coda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.8% · 669
- Two or more races9.1% · 82
- Hispanic or Latino8.9% · 81
- Black or African American4.1% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Coda
Coda leans heavily male at 84.8% of total registrations, but 165 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Coda as a male name
- Ranked #2,440 in 2024
- 56 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (56 births)
Coda as a female name
- Ranked #7,649 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Coda on both sides of the split. Of the 909 people counted with this name, 719 were male (79.1%) and 190 were female (20.9%).
Popularity
Coda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Coda from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 392 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Coda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Coda by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Coda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Codas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, California, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Coda, while Florida, Oklahoma, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Coda
The name Coda originates from the Italian language, deriving from the word "coda," which means "tail" or "end." It has its roots in the Latin word "cauda," which also translates to "tail." The name's association with the concept of an ending or conclusion is evident in its usage in various artistic and musical contexts.
In music, a coda is a passage that brings a movement or composition to a formal close. It is often a supplementary section added to the end of a piece, serving as a concluding or finalizing element. The term was first used in this musical sense in the 17th century and has since become a standard terminology in musical notation and analysis.
While the name Coda is not widely documented in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been used as a given name throughout history, particularly in Italian-speaking regions. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Coda as a first name is Coda di Ferro (c. 1180-1250), an Italian soldier and mercenary captain from the 13th century.
Another notable figure with the name Coda is Coda da Pescia (c. 1335-1406), an Italian Renaissance painter and architect from Pescia, Tuscany. He was known for his work on the Palazzo dei Priori in Perugia, among other architectural projects.
In the literary world, Coda Celestino (1847-1924) was an Italian poet and writer from Campobasso, Molise. He is celebrated for his poetic works that captured the essence of his homeland and its people.
Coda Salina (1891-1966) was an Italian film actress and screenwriter who appeared in several silent films during the early 20th century. She is remembered for her collaborations with renowned Italian directors of the time.
Coda Rizzo (1923-2011) was an Italian-American businessman and philanthropist from Philadelphia. He made significant contributions to various charitable organizations and was recognized for his community service and support of educational initiatives.
It is worth noting that while the name Coda has historical significance and usage, particularly in Italian culture, it is not a common given name today. Its unique meaning and connection to the arts and music make it a distinctive and intriguing choice for a first name, albeit a relatively rare one.
People
Coda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Coda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Coda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Coda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,061 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Coda going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 323,048 US residents.
Is Coda a common name?
We classify Coda as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,082 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Coda most popular?
The single biggest year for Coda was 2024, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Coda is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Coda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 906 people with the name Coda, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,360 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Coda in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Coda?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Coda on both sides of the split. Of the 909 people counted with this name, 719 were male (79.1%) and 190 were female (20.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Coda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coda is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.1%) and Hispanic (8.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Coda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Coda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.8% (669 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Coda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Coda a male name?
Yes, 84.8% of people registered as Coda in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Coda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Coda in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Coda can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Coda?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Coda at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.