Ava

• sounds like a movie star to me
• Even though the growing popularity has driven me away from the name a bit, i still find it a classic and beautiful
• because it's timeless.  It can be fun as well!
• Because it has that movie star quality and because it is so old fashioned that it is becoming original.
• because its underused and it is very beautiful. Reminds me of a classy girl.
• When i was 13/14 my parents bought me a pet parrot. If you all don't know, Ava means 'bird'. It was no wonder that i named my pet parrot just that!
• classic and underused
• Perfect for the nursery or the White House.
• after looking this page over I realized how unique the name Ava is. It is short and easy to spell, which would be nice for a young girl, and it would sound good on both young and old girls. One could also match this with a variety of middle names.
• Ava Madden: I love the name Ava, but it's getting to be too typical these days. I think Madden gives it a cool twist. My husband was actually the one that suggested it.
• Ava Madeline: Both names sound very classic...uncommon to hear and they don't sound made-up like a lot of names these days.

Ava was first used in the 9th century, where it was the name of a saint. It was probably based on germanic names beginning with Av- (Avis, Avila etc.) However, it was not in common usage again until the 20th century, when it was probably reintroduced to English-speaking populations by European immigrants, where it is the phonetic spelling of the name Eva. Its popularity probably owes a lot to the 1940's actress Ava Gardener, whose middle name was Lavinia-- a cool name for namenerds everywhere!