Fun Facts About the Name Bula
- More than 1 thousand babies named Bula: U.S. records list 1,034 babies given the name Bula from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Bula Mean?
Bula has more than one independent source, so its meaning depends on which tradition is meant. In Fijian, bula means "life" and also "health," and it is the everyday word of greeting; the fuller form bula vinaka joins it to a word meaning "good," so the phrase is roughly "good life" or "may you be well." In Tagalog, bula means "bubble" or "foam," the word used for soap suds and for bubbles in water. In the Bantu languages of southern Africa, including Setswana and Sesotho, bula is a verb meaning "open." These are separate words that happen to share a spelling, not variants of one another. Because the literal senses differ - life, foam, to open - there is no single translation that covers the name.
Bula Name History & Origins
The name is best known through Fijian, where bula is the ordinary greeting and also the word for "life." Fijian is an Austronesian language, and the greeting is used by Fijians of varied backgrounds; the extended form bula vinaka adds the word for "good." Fijian personal names are often drawn from ordinary words, so the greeting word is available as a name, though the documentary record of Bula as a given name before recent times is thin.
Bula also appears as a surname in several countries, among them the Philippines and Poland, where it generally traces to the local word or to an unrelated family name rather than to the Fijian greeting. Because the same spelling comes from unrelated words in Fijian, Tagalog, and the Bantu languages, the name has no single line of descent, and English-language given-name use of Bula is poorly documented.
How Popular is the Name Bula?
Bula recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 1920. Its best rank was #601 in 1889.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | #5,383 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1946 | #5,036 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1945 | #4,629 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1944 | #3,730 | 7 | 0.0005% |
| 1943 | #3,065 | 10 | 0.0007% |
| 1942 | #2,837 | 11 | 0.0008% |
| 1941 | #4,011 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1940 | #3,913 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1939 | #2,755 | 10 | 0.0009% |
| 1938 | #1,952 | 17 | 0.0015% |
| 1937 | #1,791 | 19 | 0.0018% |
| 1936 | #2,046 | 15 | 0.0014% |
| 1935 | #2,015 | 16 | 0.0015% |
| 1934 | #1,564 | 23 | 0.0022% |
| 1933 | #1,979 | 16 | 0.0016% |
| 1932 | #1,694 | 21 | 0.0020% |
| 1931 | #3,006 | 9 | 0.0008% |
| 1930 | #2,031 | 17 | 0.0015% |
| 1929 | #1,495 | 27 | 0.0024% |
| 1928 | #1,965 | 19 | 0.0016% |
| 1927 | #1,683 | 25 | 0.0021% |
| 1926 | #1,676 | 25 | 0.0021% |
| 1925 | #1,582 | 28 | 0.0023% |
| 1924 | #1,446 | 33 | 0.0026% |
| 1923 | #1,232 | 40 | 0.0033% |
| 1922 | #1,538 | 29 | 0.0024% |
| 1921 | #1,343 | 35 | 0.0028% |
| 1920 | #1,153 | 43 | 0.0036% |
| 1919 | #1,371 | 32 | 0.0028% |
| 1918 | #1,259 | 36 | 0.0031% |
| 1917 | #1,437 | 27 | 0.0025% |
| 1916 | #1,337 | 30 | 0.0029% |
| 1915 | #1,077 | 39 | 0.0040% |
| 1914 | #1,201 | 26 | 0.0034% |
| 1913 | #1,314 | 19 | 0.0030% |
| 1912 | #1,487 | 14 | 0.0025% |
| 1911 | #1,313 | 13 | 0.0031% |
| 1910 | #1,276 | 13 | 0.0033% |
| 1909 | #966 | 18 | 0.0052% |
| 1908 | #1,012 | 16 | 0.0048% |
| 1907 | #1,098 | 13 | 0.0041% |
| 1906 | #970 | 15 | 0.0051% |
| 1905 | #1,063 | 13 | 0.0045% |
| 1904 | #1,055 | 12 | 0.0044% |
| 1903 | #1,829 | 5 | 0.0019% |
| 1902 | #1,231 | 9 | 0.0034% |
| 1900 | #975 | 15 | 0.0050% |
| 1899 | #1,108 | 9 | 0.0039% |
| 1898 | #1,109 | 10 | 0.0039% |
| 1897 | #1,182 | 8 | 0.0034% |
| 1896 | #962 | 12 | 0.0050% |
| 1895 | #993 | 11 | 0.0047% |
| 1894 | #910 | 12 | 0.0054% |
| 1893 | #1,097 | 8 | 0.0038% |
| 1892 | #1,094 | 8 | 0.0038% |
| 1891 | #1,017 | 8 | 0.0043% |
| 1890 | #730 | 14 | 0.0074% |
| 1889 | #601 | 18 | 0.0101% |
| 1887 | #1,046 | 6 | 0.0041% |
| 1885 | #935 | 6 | 0.0045% |
| 1884 | #1,047 | 5 | 0.0039% |
| 1883 | #833 | 6 | 0.0053% |
| 1881 | #750 | 6 | 0.0065% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Bula Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You can go to great heights and equally great depths. You are emotional and fixed in your opinions. You are hospitable, sentimental, often psychic, sometimes moody. You are ruled by love and the lack of it and feel a need to be encouraged and appreciated. Emergencies may raise your intuitive abilities in order to resolve conflict or situation. You become very creative under the pressure, and have quite original ideas to make the best out of it.
You desire to inspire and lead, to control other's affairs. You are giving, courageous and bold, action oriented,energetic and strong willed. You want to make a difference in the world, and this attitude often attracts you to cultural interests, politics, social issues, and the cultivation of your creative talents.
✦ Bula's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Bula's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.