Short form of Adelaide, from Germanic adal, "noble" — noble; adornment. Ada Lovelace wrote the first published computer program in 1843.
Ada ranks 219th among American girls in 2025, with 1,401 born that year. Its best year was 1918, when 1,950 babies were given the name, ranking 123rd. The typical living American called Ada is about 26 years old today. It is relatively most common in North Dakota, where it accounts for 0.17% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.