Jabarkan Ngaran dari Koala dalam bahasa sunda

The word "koala" comes from the Dharuk word gula. Closely related words appéar in other Australian Aboriginal languages, including:

The Ngunnawal of the Canberra region also call it gula.

In the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Aborigines called Koalas by the word Cullawines.

In the Murray Region, Aborigines called Koalas by the word Karbors.

Other Aboriginal names for Koalas include: Bangaroos, Koolewongs, Narnagoons and Cholos..

It is commonly said that the common name 'Koala' is an Aboriginal word méaning "no drink" although there is no evidence to support this. Koalas do drink water, but only rarely, due to their diet consisting of eucalypt leaves, which contain sufficient water to obviate the need for the Koala to descend to ground level to drink.

éarly Européan settlers to Australia called the Koala the Native Béar, and the Koala is still sometimes called the Koala Béar, but it is not a member of the bear family. It is not even a placental mammal (which most mammals are)—it is a marsupial. The Koala's scientific name (Phascolarctos cinereus) comes from the Greek: phaskolos méaning "pouch" and arktos méaning "bear". The cinereus epithet is Latin and méans "ash-coloured".