Hawa - Name Meaning and Popularity -

Meaning of Hawa

Hawa, the streamlined transliteration of the Arabic Hawwāʾ (حواء)—the Qurʾānic and classical Arabic counterpart to the Hebrew Ḥawwāh, “Eve”—anchors its meaning in the Semitic root ḥ-w-y, “to live” or “to breathe,” thereby evoking the first woman and the inception of human life in the Abrahamic narrative. Long favored across the Muslim world—from the Maghreb through the Horn of Africa and into Southeast Asia—the name has migrated with diasporic communities and, since the late 1970s, has maintained a modest yet steady presence in the United States, where annual Social Security data show a slow but consistent uptick, reaching 124 recorded births and a national rank of 826 in 2024. Pronounced HAH-wah (/ˈhɑːwə/), Hawa combines theological gravity with phonetic simplicity, qualities that appeal to parents seeking a culturally resonant choice that remains distinctive within an English-speaking context.