Luka, an alternate spelling of Luca and variant of Lucas, comes from the Greek names Loukas and Loukanos, meaning "from Lucania." Lucania was an ancient region of Southern Italy, corresponding to the modern-day region of Basilicata. The name first appeared in the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 for boy names in 2004 before rising in popularity in 2018, the same year Luka Doncic was drafted No. 3 overall in the NBA Draft. Thanks to Doncic, the name Luka rose from 440th in 2017 to cracking the top-100 for the first time in 2023. That means Luka, Luca and Lucas are now all top-100 boy names in the United States.
