Uncertain; possibly Old German awi, or Latin avis, "bird" — life; bird. A ninth-century saint carried it; Ava Gardner brought it back in the 1940s.
Ava ranks 11th among American girls in 2025, with 7,739 born that year. Its best year was 2007, when 18,065 babies were given the name, ranking 4th. The typical living American called Ava is about 13 years old today. It is relatively most common in Vermont, where it accounts for 0.78% 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.