Cody

KOH·dee · 2 syllables

Cody is distinctive.

88/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

Pronunciation & Spelling
Effortless
A documented English pronunciation is on file: KOH-dee.
91/100
Everyday Use
Low risk
95/100
Growing Up
Strong lifetime fit
Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.
86/100
International Use
Broad international fit
Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.
85/100

NAME DETAILS

CLOSE SPELLINGS: Codie; Kody

ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

Buffalo Bill Cody's fame as a frontiersman and later as the founder of a globally touring Wild West show is widely credited with popularizing Cody as a recognizable American surname long before its adoption as a first name; the two threads (surname fame, then first-name transfer) are related but separated by several decades. Two separate Irish Gaelic surnames (Ó Cuidighthigh and Mac Óda) both Anglicized to Cody, so the name does not have a single unambiguous root meaning; this profile presents both without asserting one as the sole source.

Ó Cuidighthigh (Irish Gaelic). Descendant of the helpful one (from Irish Gaelic Ó Cuidighthigh) or, in a separate parallel derivation, son of Odo (from Mac Óda).

POPULARITY

Cody over time

United States

#318RANK

Rank #318 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Uncommon in current U.S. usage. Ranked #318 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

KOH·dee

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

CLOSE SPELLINGS

Codie
Kody

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS

Ó CuidighthighIrish Gaelic
Mac ÓdaIrish Gaelic

PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Short, easy to say and spell, and consistently perceived as friendly and wholesome, making it a comfortable fit for a young child.

Cultural Footprint

An Anglicized Irish surname adopted widely as a first name in the mid-to-late 20th century United States, closely associated with frontier-era showman Buffalo Bill Cody and part of the broader trend of Irish-surname given names for boys.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917)American frontiersman, bison hunter, and Wild West show founder

Community Impressions

Cody reads as modern, wholesome, and unpretentious — a straightforward, friendly-sounding name without heavy formality, carrying light frontier-Americana color from its association with Buffalo Bill Cody.

How this name is commonly received · not used in the score

More about Cody

FORMALITY

Functions primarily as an informal, everyday name with no separate formal long form.

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Cody is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

A documented English pronunciation is on file. Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK