girl's name
Dua
DOO-a
- Origin Arabic
- Gender Girl
- Letters 3
- Popularity Top 1000 (E&W)
- Births on record 4,761
England and Wales
#118
2025 births
Dua is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "prayer" or "supplication." It names the personal, unscripted prayer of Islam — distinct from the formal salah — and its recent rise in Britain owes much to Dua Lipa.
- Dua is a name of Arabic origin.
- Peaked in England and Wales in 2025, when 411 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in England and Wales.
- Today about 1 in 1,282 babies in England and Wales is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1999.
Dua over time
Births per decade in England and Wales, 1990s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1990s | 3 |
| 2000s | 106 |
| 2010s | 647 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,779 |
What Dua means
Dua means prayer, specifically the informal act of calling on God in one's own words. The Arabic verb means to call or to invoke, so the name describes reaching out rather than the ritual itself.
Where Dua comes from
Dua comes from the Arabic duʿāʾ, from daʿā, to call or summon. In Islamic practice duʿāʾ is the personal supplication a believer makes in their own words at any time, as distinct from salah, the five daily prayers with fixed form and timing — so the name carries a sense of intimacy with God rather than observance. The name is also read in Albanian as meaning love, which is the sense the singer Dua Lipa has given for her own name, and both readings are current among British families.
Dua in use
Our data first records Dua in 1993 and shows it peaking in 2025, still rising, at 118 in England and Wales. Its climb tracks Dua Lipa's career closely, which our year-by-year series makes visible: the name was barely present before her first album in 2017.
How popular is Dua?
In 2025, Dua was given to 411 babies in England and Wales, ranking #118 that year. It is well established in England and Wales.
Where Dua is used
Figures for England and Wales withhold any name given to fewer than three babies in a year, so a gap means the name fell below that floor rather than went unused. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Dua
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Dua also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Dua over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Dua in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Duaa
Sibling names for Dua
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Dua — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Dua
What does the name Dua mean?
Dua means "prayer" or "supplication" in Arabic. In Albanian it is read as love.
What is dua in Islam?
The personal, unscripted prayer a believer makes in their own words, distinct from salah, the five daily prayers with fixed form.
Did Dua Lipa make the name popular?
Our data shows the name barely present before her first album in 2017 and climbing steadily since.
Is Dua a girl's or a boy's name?
Dua is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Dua a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Dua currently ranks #118 in England and Wales. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.