Ava
Unresolved: either a Germanic short name in av-, or a form of Eve, Hebrew Chavah, “life.”
Popularity, 1880–2025
Screen legend Ava Gardner gave it glamour, and a wave of celebrity babies around 2000 brought it roaring back.
Ava appears in the national records from the very first year, 1880. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American girls in every year from 2002 to 2025. It spent 20 years inside the top 10. Its biggest year was 2007, when 18,053 newborn girls received the name, ranking it No. 4 nationally. Its best ranking came in 2016, at No. 3. In 2025 it ranked No. 11 for girls. All told, 344,441 Americans have been given the name since 1880.
Related names
Other spellings on record: Avah (7,046), Ayva (3,823), Ahuva (1,922), Ayvah (1,841), Aiva (767), Aeva (573) (total births since 1880)
Other names that share a story: Evelyn
Explore Ava interactively →By the decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 279 | No. 331 |
| 1890s | 479 | No. 360 |
| 1900s | 533 | No. 417 |
| 1910s | 1,401 | No. 434 |
| 1920s | 1,590 | No. 515 |
| 1930s | 1,180 | No. 541 |
| 1940s | 1,346 | No. 534 |
| 1950s | 4,237 | No. 376 |
| 1960s | 2,342 | No. 532 |
| 1970s | 1,319 | No. 789 |
| 1980s | 1,416 | No. 931 |
| 1990s | 4,207 | No. 259 |
| 2000s | 104,539 | No. 4 |
| 2010s | 155,879 | No. 3 |
| 2020s | 63,350 | No. 3 |
Births and rank shown for girls, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.
🍼 Enjoying this? Buy my baby a diaper
Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.