Noe
Of Biblical origin, meaning "rest" or "wanderer".
Name Census estimates that about 21,976 living Americans carry the first name Noe. It is a predominantly male name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Noe today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Noe births was 2007 (646 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Noe. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Noe is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 421 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,597 Americans
Peak year
2007
646 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#768
Tracked since 1914
Gender
Gender distribution for Noe
Noe leans heavily male at 98.2% of total registrations, but 421 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Noe as a male name
- Ranked #768 in 2024
- 328 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (635 births)
Noe as a female name
- Ranked #7,475 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (28 births)
Popularity
Noe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Noe from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5,654 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Noe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Noe 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 Noe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Noes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Noe, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 611 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Noe
The name Noe has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "noach," meaning "rest" or "repose." The name gained significant historical and religious prominence through the biblical figure Noah, the patriarch who built the ark and survived the Great Flood, as described in the Book of Genesis.
Noe is a spelling variation of Noah, which is the more common English version of the name. In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Noah is portrayed as a righteous man chosen by God to save humanity and the animal species from the destructive flood. His story is central to Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Noe can be found in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. In this text, Noah's name is rendered as "Noe." This variation likely arose due to the differences in pronunciation and transliteration between Hebrew and Greek.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Noe. In the 4th century, Saint Noe was a Christian martyr who was executed during the Roman persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian. Another notable bearer of the name was Noe the Younger, a 7th-century Byzantine writer and poet.
In the realm of literature, Noe appears as a character in Dante Alighieri's epic poem "Divine Comedy," written in the early 14th century. Dante portrays Noe as the builder of the ark, highlighting his role in the biblical narrative.
During the Renaissance, the name Noe gained popularity among artists and intellectuals. Noe Bamert (c. 1460-1501) was a Swiss painter and woodcarver known for his intricate altarpieces and sculptures. Noe Meir (1567-1622), a Jewish scholar and rabbi, made significant contributions to the study of Hebrew grammar and biblical exegesis.
In more recent centuries, notable figures with the name Noe include Noe Zhordania (1869-1953), a Georgian politician and prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, and Noe Ramirez (1908-1979), a Mexican baseball player and manager.
While the name Noe has been historically associated with various cultures and religions, its Hebrew origins and biblical connections have played a significant role in shaping its meaning and significance over time.
People
Noe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Noe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Noe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Noe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21,976 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Noe 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 15,597 US residents.
Is Noe a common name?
We classify Noe as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23,571 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Noe most popular?
The single biggest year for Noe was 2007, when 646 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Noe is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Noe a male name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Noe 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.
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.