Ava
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Meaning
an English variant of Eve, linked to Hebrew words for "to breathe" or "to live"
The story
Ava can carry several distinct histories. Modern English Ava is treated as a form of Eve. A medieval Germanic Ava shortened names beginning with awi, an element whose meaning is unknown. Persian Ava, written آوا, independently means “voice” or “sound.” The matching Latin-letter spelling does not make those names branches of one certain origin.
Church tradition honors a ninth-century Ava at Denain in northern France as a nun and the head of a women’s monastery. A later Ava is the earliest woman poet writing in German whose name is known. Her Christian poems include an account of the Last Judgment in which she names herself and mentions her sons, one of whom has died.
Scholars usually identify the poet with a religious recluse whose death Austrian monasteries recorded in 1127, and place her poems around 1120. The identification is a scholarly conclusion, rather than a complete biography left by the poet herself.
Ava Gardner’s path to film began with a family photograph. According to the Ava Gardner Museum, her brother-in-law Larry Tarr took and displayed a portrait that prompted contact with MGM. Her strong North Carolina accent led to a silent screen test. Her later performance in Mogambo earned an Academy Award nomination.
How popular is Ava around the world?
In the United States, 63,391 babies were named Ava between 2020 and 2025. In South Australia, 114 girls were registered as Ava in 2017.
Ava is on the official records of the United States, South Australia, Scotland, England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, France, Norway, New South Wales, Puerto Rico, Austria, Mexico City, Argentina, Poland, Spain and Brazil.
Ava crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of an English-speaking birth record and of a Spanish-speaking one. The full list: English and Spanish
United States
1 in 340
In the United States, 63,391 babies were named Ava between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ava peaked in the 2010s. Ava went to 16,435 US babies in 2015 and 7,739 in 2025, 47% of the earlier figure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
South Australia
1 in 1602017
In South Australia, 114 girls were registered as Ava in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Scotland
1 in 240
In Scotland, 188 girls named Ava were registered in 2024, the 11th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 360
In England and Wales, 1,611 girls named Ava were born in 2025, the 11th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
1 in 380
In Ireland, 143 girls named Ava were born in 2025, the 26th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 470
In Canada, 782 girls named Ava were born in 2024, the 10th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
New Zealand
1 in 550
In New Zealand, 104 girls named Ava were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
France
1 in 600
In France, about 1,075 girls named Ava were born in 2025, the 40th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Norway
1 in 740register 2026
In Norway, 36 girls were given the name Ava in 2025.
share of the girls on the register for that year, SSB’s own figure
People who have or have had a Norwegian ID number, emigrants left out, from Statistics Norway’s name statistics (release of January 2026): by year of birth for 1945–2020 (everyone born that year who was ever registered in Norway, including people who registered later and people who have since died) and by year of naming from 2021; only first names carried by 200 or more living people are listed, counts under 4 are withheld, and SSB merges spellings that differ only by letters outside the Norwegian alphabet. The shares are SSB’s own, of the people of that sex and year in that count; the 2025 figure counts the children named that year, and no year is a count of births. Source: Statistics Norway (SSB), table 10467 (updated 2026-01-28)
New South Wales
#18 · 2025
In New South Wales, 227 girls named Ava were registered in 2025, ranked 18th in that year’s top 100 for girls.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
Puerto Rico
1 in 1,800
In Puerto Rico, 10 babies were named Ava in 2025, and 30 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Austria
1 in 2,300
In Austria, 33 girls named Ava were born in 2025, the 183rd most common name among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Mexico City City
1 in 59,000
In Mexico City, there were 2 registrations of Ava in 2022.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Argentina
1 in 60,000
In Argentina, 11 newborns were given the name Ava in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Poland
1 in 82,000
In Poland, 3 girls named Ava were born in 2025, the 583rd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Spain
1 in 160,000
In Spain, 277 residents are named Ava, ranked 3,475th among women, with a mean age of 9.5 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
1 in 330,000
At the 2022 census, 583 people in Brazil were named Ava, ranked 12,038th, with a median age of 22.
Among people named Ava living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 145 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Montevideo City
last on record 1982
Ava is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown.
When you meet Ava
Most people given the name Ava in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Ava · Names that go with Ava · Middle names for Ava · Persian baby names · Short names · Nickname-proof names · Climbers and fallers
The Ava deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ava truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ava fits with your family’s names and surname.
Questions about Ava
What middle names go with Ava?
Blake (a single beat to anchor Ava's 2), Evelin (3 beats to Ava's 2, so the pair keeps its rhythm), and Maud (a single beat to anchor Ava's 2). The full list, each pairing with its reason, is on the middle names page for Ava.
Is Ava too popular right now?
Ava is very common right now and still rising. In US Social Security records since 1890, its score for the 2020s is 9 out of 10, up from 7 in the 2000s. It peaked in the 2010s. Before the 2000s it appears in every decade of the published lists, from 479 girls in its thinnest decade to 4,237 in the 1950s.
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