Behind the Name: Ava

Meaning
The name Ava means "life", "desired" or "radiant one" and is derived from Hebrew.

History
Historically, from the 1880s through the 1980s, Ava was not a popular name, barely ranking in the top 500 names for each decade according to the Baby Name Voyager (http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager). In the 1980's, Ava began to increase in popularity. In the 1990's the name leapt in popularity from 571st place to 41st place. In recent years, Ava continued to become more and more popular. Today, Ava is one of the most popular names in the United States, currently ranking number 4 in the Social Security Administration's list of top ten names for 2007 (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames).

Personality profile
According to personality profiler Kerrin Carleen Hopkins (http://www.calgarysun.com/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=147793&x=articles&s=lifestyle), "Avas are capable, creative and need to feel important. They're also expensive so if any parents out there have an Ava, you'll need some extra lines of credit. "

Facts about Ava
The name Ava is derived from the Hebrew word for "life" ("chavah").
The Frankish saint Saint Ava lived in the ninth century.
Ava was one of the most popular Hollywood baby names of the '90's. In 1997, Heather Locklear and musician Richie Sambora chose the name Ava for their firstborn daughter, and 1999, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe also chose the name Ava for their daughter, Ava Elizabeth.
Ava was a Biblical city. The inhabitants of Ava were called Avites
Ava means "voice" in Afghan and Persian, and "breath of life" in Old English. The Latin root "ava" means "birdlike".
The famous actress Ava Gardner once said, "I don't understand people who like to work and talk about it like it was some sort of ... duty. Doing nothing feels like floating on warm water to me. Delightful, perfect." (Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ava_gardner.html)
The Celtic name Aoife, which means "radiant", is sometimes Anglicized as "Ava".

Famous Avas
Ava Gardner (actress)
Ava Barber (country singer)
Ava Helen Pauling (human rights activist)
Ava Gardner (actress)
Ava Gaudet (actress)
German poet Ava (1060-1127)
Saint Ava, daughter of King Pepin (845 A.D)

Alternate forms
Avah; Avalee; Avelina; Aveline; Avelyn; Avis; Avlynn; Avia; Avi; Ave; Avalee; Eva; Eve; Chava; Evelyn; Evita; Evie; Evylen; Evelyne; Evelynne; Evelina; Evelin; Eveline; Evelien; Eevi; Eeva; Hawa; Yeva

Sources
2007 rankings are courtesy the Social Security Administration (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/).
Historical name data generated from the Baby Name Wizard (http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager)
Sources for name facts: http://www.likethatname.com/Ava, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_%28given_name%29
Personality profile from the Calgary Sun (http://www.calgarysun.com/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=147793&x=articles&s=lifestyle)