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The first name 
Ava

Ava is a first name typically given to girls, but in rare cases also used as a boys name.

Ava is a very popular name!

In the US, Ava is one of the most popular names ever. In the SmartGenius ranking recently, it has regularly been among the top 10 most common girls names and is currently in place 5. In fact, one out auf 300 girls under the age of 10 is named Ava. In the entire USA, approximately 311,432 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Ava. That is 0.09 % of all living Americans.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Ava

What does the name 
Ava mean?

The origin of the name Ava is not entirely clear. On the one hand, it can go back to the Latin word ‘avis’ for ‘bird’ on the other hand it comes from the Old High German word ‘aval’ for ‘power, strength’ and thus give the meaning ‘the strong one’. At the same time, the name is also found in Persian-speaking areas such as Iran, where Ava is translated as ‘pleasant sound’.

Did you know… that Ava is also place name? On the one hand it was the name of an ancient capital of Myanmar, on the other hand it is name of a city in Missouri.

Many famous people have the name Ava

An aspiring singer and songwriter

Ava Max (*1994)
The US pop singer had her international breakthrough in 2018 with the song 'Sweet but Psycho'. She increased her success in 2020 with her hit single 'Kings & Queens'.

A filmmaker

Ava DuVernay (*1972)
is not only an American filmmaker, but also a television, and film publicist. Her works include the biopic about Martin Luther King 'Selma' and Disneys' 'A Wrinkle in Time'.

An actress

Ava Gardner (1922 - 1990)
had her greatest successes as a film actress in the 1940s and 1950s. She was part of the Golden Age in Hollywood and was considered a sex symbol. She starred in John Ford's 'Mogambo' and Robert Siodmak's film noir 'The Killers', to name a few.

An American socialite

Ava Willing Astor (1868 - 1958)
Ava Willing Astor was a US high society lady in New York society (Belle ɰoque) and later a member of the British aristocracy. She was first the wife of Colonel John Jacob Astor IV and later married Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Ava, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Ava? Are you also called Ava? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

Several places

There are several cities and communities in the United States that bear the name Ava. For example, a town in the US state of New York.

A skyscraper

In Seattle, a residential skyscraper was to be built that would have 48 floors and be named Ava (stylized as AVA)

SS Ava...

was a steamship built in Glasgow in 1855 and named after the ancient capital of Burma 'Ava'.

Kingdom of Ava...

or Ava Kingdom was a state from 1364 to 1555 in modern Myanmar (Burma), named after its capital, now Inwa.

A village

In the Central District of Talesh County, Gilan Province, Iran lies a small village called Ava.

Ava -
a popular traditional name in the U.S.

History tends to focus on the most famous and best. But even those who play second fiddle leave their mark: Ava is one of those names without which the orchestra would be incomplete. In fact, it has reached the SmartGenius top ranking #3 more than once. It wasn't that long ago, the last was in 2020, but even if the peak of popularity happened not that long ago, the name Ava has been given to newborn girls every year since records began. Ava is a name of exceptional enduring popularity, bringing the special spirit of the 20th century into the 21st.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Ava was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Ava has arrived in the 21st century

The peak of popularity of the traditional name Ava is only a short while ago: the name has definitely arrived in the 21st century. Ava made it into the top ten more than once, in 2022 it ranked #7 in our statistics: the chances of meeting a Ava are pretty high these days. Traditional names often turn out to be perennial favorites – so, who knows, perhaps Ava will eventually become one of the most popular girls' names of all time.

Ava -
well known in all states of the USA, most popular in Nevada

There are only 537 different women’s names registered in every single state in the U.S., and Ava is one of them. However, Ava is not equally widespread in all states, but people in Nevada seem to particularly fancy this name – the 2,120 women called Ava who live here are 0,475% of all female residents and push their name up to #38, easily placing it in the top 100 most common female names in Nevada.

Ava has 3 letters 
and begins with an A

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter A is the most popular first letter for girls’ names. 11.8% of all common girls’ names in the US start with this letter. The second most common first letter in girls' names is S.

With only three letters, the name Ava is obviously very short. In fact, only 1.0% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly three letters. Just 0.2% of all first names are even shorter and only have two letters, while nearly 99% of all boys’ and girls’ names use more than three letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

That means that if 11.8% of all girls' names start with an A, this initial letter occurs over three times as often as all other letters on average. And, by the way, of all the girls' names that begin with the letter A, the name Ashley is the most common.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Ava

If your name is Ava and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Ava

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Ava, you can simply say:

Apple

Violin

Apple

This is how the name Ava is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Ava in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Ava

Ava

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Ava

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Ava is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

A
V
A

Have you ever waved the name Ava

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

A
V
A

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Ava sounds like this: