Ava
A diminutive form of the Germanic name Ava, meaning "life" or "wished-for child".
Our analysis of Social Security Administration records puts the number of living Americans named Ava at approximately 325,708. That places it at #9 in the national ranking of first names. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ava today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ava births was 2007 (18,065 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Cheryl (323,822).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ava. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ava with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ava is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 336 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Ava is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
326K
~ 1 in 1,052 Americans
Peak year
2007
18,065 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ava in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 257,512 people with the first name Ava, which placed it at #209 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#209
National first-name rank
People counted
258K
257,512 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
85.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ava
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ava is White at 65.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.6%) and Black (8.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ava described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ava at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.9% · 169,748
- Hispanic or Latino14.6% · 37,616
- Black or African American8.9% · 22,969
- Two or more races7.4% · 18,957
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 6,788
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,434
Gender
Gender distribution for Ava
Out of the 336,608 babies given the name Ava since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Ava as a male name
- Ranked #12,421 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2004 (35 births)
Ava as a female name
- Ranked #9 in 2024
- 8,662 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (18,053 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ava appears almost entirely female. Of the 257,513 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Ava: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ava from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 155,983 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ava remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ava by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ava during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ava, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,489 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ava
The name Ava has its origins in the Germanic and Latin languages. It is derived from the Germanic name Ava, which is believed to be a short form of other Germanic names like Avilius or Avillius. In Latin, the name is thought to be related to the word "avis," meaning "bird."
Ava was a relatively uncommon name in ancient times, with few recorded instances in historical texts or records. However, it did appear in some early Christian writings, where it was likely used as a feminine form of the masculine name Avus, which means "grandfather" in Latin.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ava dates back to the 9th century, when it was borne by a German abbess named Ava of Seckau (c. 800 - 876). She played an important role in the establishment of the Benedictine monastery in Seckau, Austria.
Another notable historical figure named Ava was Ava of Göttweig (c. 1020 - 1073), a German noblewoman and benefactor of the Göttweig Abbey in Lower Austria. She was instrumental in the construction of the abbey's church and buildings.
In the 12th century, Ava of Coventry (c. 1150 - 1215) was an English anchoress and mystic who wrote several religious works, including a collection of revelations known as the "Writings of Ava of Coventry."
During the Renaissance period, the name Ava was used by the Italian painter Ava Ghisi (c. 1500 - c. 1570), who was known for her engravings and was one of the few female artists of her time.
In more modern times, the name Ava gained popularity with the birth of Ava Gardner (1922 - 1990), the iconic American actress known for her roles in films such as "The Killers," "The Barefoot Contessa," and "On the Beach."
Other notable individuals named Ava throughout history include Ava Duvernay (born 1972), the American filmmaker and producer known for directing films like "Selma" and "A Wrinkle in Time"; Ava Helen Pauling (1903 - 1981), an American activist and the wife of chemist Linus Pauling; and Ava Max (born 1994), an American singer-songwriter known for her hit singles "Sweet but Psycho" and "So Am I."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ava
People
Ava + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ava as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ava: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ava?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 325,708 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ava going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,052 US residents.
Is Ava a common name?
We classify Ava as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 336,608 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ava most popular?
The single biggest year for Ava was 2007, when 18,065 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ava is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ava in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 257,512 people with the name Ava, or 85.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #209 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ava in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ava?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ava appears almost entirely female. Of the 257,513 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ava?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ava is White at 65.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.6%) and Black (8.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ava most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ava in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.9% (169,748 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ava in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ava a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Ava in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ava still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ava in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ava can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Ava?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.