Pagoda

English word name from Portuguese

"sacred tower"

Pagoda Origin and Meaning

The name Pagoda is a boy's name meaning "sacred tower".

A pagoda, a tiered tower for religious use found in Asia, is admittedly a very unlikely source of inspiration for a baby name. However, Pagoda was used as a character name in Wes Anderson's 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums.

The etymology of the word is contested, with some sources suggesting it derived from the Portuguese word pagode, which in turn may have come from the Persian butkada, meaning "idol dwelling." Another theory posits that it comes from a South Chinese pronunciation of the word for an eight-sided tower.