Baby Name Poll Results

The fact that you honeymooned in Hawaii isn't a plausible reason for naming your son Koa. If neither of you have any native Hawaiian ancestry you shouldn't use that name. It's offensive and culturally appropriative. But here are some other names that mean "strong" or "warrior":

Andreas (ahn-DRAY-us, origin: Greek)
Dustin (origin: Norse)
Evander (origin: Scottish)
Kane (origin: Welsh)
Marcel (origin: French)

How is it less culturally inappropriate to use those names?

It's not cultraully insensitive to use Koa. If you were choosing a culturally significant name with little regard for Hawaiian culture, then yes— but Koa? That's fine. Koa is multicultural— it's also used in Australian Aboriginal culture, Hebrew, etc. Koa is a nature name (usually Koa on its own is seen as a nature name and Kekoa would be "the brave one" or "the warrior," is an okay translation I guess.)

Hawaiian naming culture, though, places a lot of weight on names and life projection—names are very special and determinant. So I would definitely look into Hawai'i culture before you use a Hawaiian name— but Koa on its own is not offensive on a non-a Hawaiian child.

Names are most likely to come from a different culture if you live in the United states.
I do think Koa is trendy now and in a few years it will seem dated though not in Hawaii.

Koa is a very nice, strong name. If you both LOVE it then I say YES!

Not a fan of it

I don't like it at all sorry, sounds harsh and like a dog's name, all while also sounding like a girl's name. I much prefer Kai (also Hawaiian I believe) and Noah, those are both great names. I also really dislike Koda for the same reasons.

^But even though I don't personally like it, because it's weird and trendy, I think it's 100% fine to use. Doesn't matter if you're not Hawaiian, a name doesn't have to come from your "own" culture. It's always a compliment to that culture because you choose a name you LOVE not to make fun of it... all these leftists/liberals need to lay off with this cultural appropriation/cancel culture nonsense. I'm sure half of their names don't come from their "own" culture (and that's being conservative).

@ Poster 2 - The one thing I see in common with the name suggestions listed in the first comment are that they're all of European origin. Europeans are notorious for going on colonization quests throughout history and imposing nearly every aspect of their respective cultures on the people that they took over, including naming systems. That's why today you're more likely to meet a person of color with a name of European origin than your are to meet a non person or color with a name of some other origin, in this case Pacific Islander.

Ooh I like Andreas...it sounds so regal.