Noah/Noa is a girls name across the world.

[Babyboy2000]

I not sure if many of you have noticed, but I went travelling this summer across many different countries and Noa is a very popular girls name, and there is also a woman in the bible called Noah. I like it and was thinking of perhaps using it. OPINIONS!

What is the probability of @Coffeedrinker7 having taught Kasey, Riley, Jamie, and Sydney though? We'll need to see your working obviously, teasing us with "extremely low" isn't going to score any marks in this test. You'll also need to state your assumptions such as the length of teaching career and number of individual girls taught per week (remember that girls are unique but non-ordered).

@Summermeadowflowers ,Noah is closely associated with Noah's Ark, which is in Jewish, Islamic and Christian scriptures.

@babysharkdoodoodedoodedoo definitely an H, she’s actually Noah-Anne

Yes thanks @KirstenBlest - I know. I’m familiar with it. I just don’t believe given the names popularity that the previous poster is only able to imagine Noah as a name ‘belongs’ to this particular story, any more than Mary and Joseph are just the parents of Jesus and Thomas a doubter.

The first thing I associate Noah with is the Ark too. Noah wasn't popular until about 20 years ago.
Mary, Joseph and Thomas have been popular most of my lifetime, although the Marys would have been older than me. If you said 'Mary and Joseph' then I'd think of the sweet baby Jesus in a crib.

Noa makes me think of the clothes brand NoaNoa.

It isn’t about associations. It’s just simply that acting as if the only person to have the name Noah was a biblical man is a bit daft given it’s popularity.

It is about associations. People pick names that they like. Some names they will like because of the associations they make either knowingly or subconsciously.

Names often become popular because they are associated with someone.

@KirstenBlest look, I don’t want to be argumentative here but this is the post I was replying to.

I'd assume a person called Noah was a man, with a beard, a large family, a fondness for animals, and excellent wood-working skills

And I questioned whether they’d really assume that, given the name was the third most popular for boys in 2022. It was an attempt to be funny but it’s just irritating. I was actually raised going to Sunday school and church but even if I hadn’t been I doubt there are many people unfamiliar with the Noah’s ark story. The name doesn’t need a sarky response, I’m not personally keen because it sounds like No-Uh a lot of the time, but it’s hardly an obscure name!

I know a woman called Noella, l think that's a French version of Noah.

@Summermeadowflowers , I don't particularly like the name because like you I hear No uh, or by now NO-WAH! shouted across a street or park.

Not being sarky. I think that people picked the name (or Theo) because it seemed different and fresh, without realising that other parents thought the same.

I think that might be Noel but I could be wrong.

I also think that parents pick names like Margot or Darcey because they think of Ms Robbie or Dame Darcey. I don't particularly like either name, but both associated celebrities are beautiful.

Many posters on here wouldn't name a daughter Diana because of Princess Di, but the association won't mean much to children born these days.

No, definitely Noah. It's very popular here. Names vary in popularity in regions depending on the ethnic mix Rafael seems popular to - and like Noah, is heard as RAFA-YELL! at some young tearaway.

Noel makes me think of Edmonds and Fielding, neither good associations.

Those names are hardly ever used for girls, so it's unlikely that you have taught all of them

Eh? They're not 'hardly ever used'. Why would that be made up. I've also taught a female Jamie, Riley, Sydney and Charlie and three of those were in a rural, 'posh' independent school in the South East. The only one I'm missing is Casey and I haven't taught a male or a female one of those. So not at all difficult to imagine that another teacher has taught all five, especially as those kind of unisex names are more popular in some areas and demographics than others - and I don't think private schools in the home counties will be top of that list! Even if a name is relatively rare, the chances of coming across it during a teaching career are pretty high.

I think Noa is pretty but would spell it without the h for a girl, definitely.

@miniaturepixieonacid , they aren't much used. Look them up on darkgreener. If you said you'd taught Olivia, Sophia, Isla, Lily and Freya that would be a lot more believable because 1000s are registered every year.

KirstenBlest You underestimate how many children get taught by one teacher over the course of a full career. I've taught over 200 children per year for the past 17 years. That's 3400 children and I've still got around 28 years and another 5600 children to go. Yes, of course I've taught Olivias, Sophias, Islas, Freyas and Lilys. Around 20-30 Olivias, Sophias and Lilys and 4 or 5 Islas and Freyas. With probabbly lots more to come. But, in those 17 years, have also been 1 Jamie (Jamie-Leigh to be precise), 1 Sydney (with a twin sister called Atlanta), 2 Charlies (1 spelled Charly) and 1 Riley (as well as 1 boy Riley). It's a long way from unbelievable to have taught children with rarer names over a long career and you have no idea whether the poster you accused of lying has got 1 year under her belt or 40. It's far less likely that she would bother to write that she had taught fictional children!

Darkgreener doesn't seem to tell you numbers of babies, just a rank. As an example, Sydney is 431 for girls. I can't seem to find those full ONS lists anymore that used to be available as Excel spreadsheets but the rankings used to run up to about 5000 before the names got too rare to be published (fewer than 3 babies a year).

Darkgreener does give the number.

To me it says old beardy Bible man.
Noah has been the most popular boys nabe in this country for many years - it’s firmly established as a boys name.

Love Noa for a girl, don't like the Noah spelling for a girl. (i also like Jamie, Andi, and Billie for a girl)

So it does. I didn't think to hover over the graph. Okay, so there have been an average of around 150 Sydneys born between 1996 and 2006. I started teaching in 2006 (7-13 year olds) when the 1996 Sydneys were 10. So 17 X 150 = 2550 possible Sydneys. So, given a secondary aged child has around 12 teachers a year, it's hardly surprising that huge numbers of teachers will have met one.

But taught all of them? The probability is much less. And does it count if they are Charly, Jaime, Casey, Rylie, Sidonie ....?

Definitely, less, I agree. But they're not rare names, just relatively unusual ones. I don't know what the probablility is (I'm shit at maths, I teach performing arts !) but it's not implausible.
5 of the rarest girl names I've ever taught are:
Chymme (too rare to rank)
Aven (0-5 born each year)
Fabia (0-7 born each year)
Athene (0-7 born each year)
Delphi (6-20 born each year)
I'd agree with you if the names were as rare as those but they aren't anywhere close, especially given that the girls could easily have been born closer to 1996 than 2023 when those kinds of names were much more common.
Idk about other spellings. I don't know how the stats are made.

@miniaturepixieonacid I love that you’ve tried to work it out! @KirstenBlest not quite sure how I can prove it without showing you my registers but I promise you I have taught female students with those names. I also have a friend with a girl called Charlie (to be fair she was christened Charlotte), I’ve also taught a Jamie-Jo and now I come to think of it, my DD used to have a friend called Billie!

@Coffeedrinker7, You don't need to prove it, and Charlie and Billie would probably not be that unusual, but in 1996 only 9 girl Rileys were registered.

@miniaturepixieonacid, I didn't accuse anyone of lying, but I expect that if I mentioned Balonz and L-a, someone would have taught both.
The stats are based on the percentage of girls or boys registered with the first name. Names that have different spellings (e.g. Sophia/Sofia, Muhammad/Mohammed/Mohamed) get counted separately. Girls and boys are counted separately.