How popular is the baby name Ava in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ava.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Ava


Posts that mention the name Ava

Top baby names of 2023 in several U.S. states (provisional)

peeking nun

Want to take a peek into the future?

The year isn’t over yet, but that hasn’t stopped several regional governments from releasing provisional baby name rankings for 2023.

At least four U.S. states and one U.S. city have put out their top baby names of 2023 already, for instance. Let’s check them out, starting in the east and moving westward…

Rhode Island

According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, Rhode IslandTop boy names, Rhode Island
1. Charlotte
2. Sophia
3. Olivia
4. Amelia
5. Emma
6. Nora
7. Luna
8. Isabella
9. Mia
10. Isla		1. Noah
2. Liam
3. James
4. Theodore
5. Lucas
6. Michael
7. Julian
8. Benjamin
9. Henry
10. Luca

Mississippi

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, MississippiTop boy names, Mississippi
1. Ava
2. Amelia
3. Olivia
4. Charlotte
5. Harper
6. Elizabeth
7. Emma
8. Mary
9. Nova
10. Evelyn		1. John
2. James
3. William
4. Elijah
5. Noah
6. Liam
7. Waylon
8. Mason
9. Grayson
10. Asher

Houston (Texas)

According to the Houston Health Department, these were the city’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, City of HoustonTop boy names, City of Houston
1. Emma
2. Mia
3. Camila
4. Olivia
5. Isabella
6. Sofia
7. Sophia
8. Amelia
9. Charlotte
10. Emily		1. Liam
2. Noah
3. Mateo
4. Santiago
5. Sebastian
6. Dylan
7. Elijah
8. Lucas
9. Oliver
10. Daniel

New Mexico

According to the New Mexico Department of Health, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, New MexicoTop boy names, New Mexico
1. Olivia
2. Amelia
3. Isabella
4. Emma
5. Sofia
6. Mia
7. Sophia
8. Aria
9. Luna
10. Camila		1. Liam
2. Mateo
3. Noah
4. Santiago
5. Ezekiel
6. Elijah
7. Josiah
8. Sebastian
9. Ezra
10. Julian

Arizona

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, ArizonaTop boy names, Arizona
1. Olivia
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Mia
5. Camila
6. Sophia
7. Amelia
8. Charlotte
9. Evelyn
10. Luna		1. Liam
2. Mateo
3. Noah
4. Oliver
5. Santiago
6. Elijah
7. Sebastian
8. Ezra
9. Levi
10. Benjamin

Several regions outside the U.S. have also released their 2023 baby name rankings already. Here’s what I’ve spotted so far…

RegionTop names
British Columbia (Canada)Olivia & Noah
New Brunswick (Canada)Olivia & Liam
Nova Scotia (Canada)Olivia & Henry
P.E.I. (Canada)Sadie/Sophie & Jack
ACT/Canberra (Australia)Amelia/Charlotte & Henry
South Australia (Australia)Isla & Oliver
Western Australia (Australia)Isla & Oliver

Have you seen any others?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from A trompe l’œil with a young nun peeking out through a shutter (public domain)

Popular baby names in Australia, 2022

Flag of Australia
Flag of Australia

In 2022, Australia — which boasts a large number of endemic animals (e.g., koala, kangaroo, wallaby, wombat, dingo) — welcomed 300,684 human babies: 146,403 girls and 154,281 boys.

What were the most popular names among Australia’s newborns last year?

Well…we don’t know for sure. Because Australia doesn’t release baby name rankings that cover the entire country.

So let’s take a look at eight sets of regional Australian rankings — representing Australia’s six states and two most populous territories — and make a guess about the country’s top names overall.

Here are the rankings, ordered by total number of births per region (highest to lowest):

New South Wales

Last year, New South Wales welcomed 95,758 (31.8%) of Australia’s babies. Here are NSW’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, NSWBoy names, NSW
1. Charlotte, 430
2. Amelia, 425
3. Isla, 403
4. Olivia, 401
5. Mia, 363
6. Ava, 343
7. Ella, 331
8. Matilda, 318
9. Sienna, 293
10. Willow, 288		1. Noah, 630
2. Oliver, 628
3. Leo, 447
4. William, 427
5. Theodore, 404
6. Jack, 381
7. Luca, 367 (tie)
8. Henry, 367 (tie)
9. Thomas, 348
10. Charlie, 334

Victoria

Last year, Victoria welcomed 76,187 (25.3%) of Australia’s babies. Here are Victoria’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, VictoriaBoy names, Victoria
1. Charlotte, 367
2. Amelia, 356
3. Isla, 345 (tie)
4. Mia, 345 (tie)
5. Olivia, 326
6. Matilda, 296
7. Ava, 293
8. Ella, 283 (tie)
9. Grace, 283 (tie)
10. Hazel, 266		1. Oliver, 593
2. Noah, 503
3. Jack, 416
4. Leo, 408
5. Henry, 354
6. Charlie, 344
7. William, 328
8. Theodore, 326
9. Thomas, 282
10. Hudson, 274

Queensland

Last year, Queensland welcomed 62,313 (20.7%) of Australia’s babies. Here are Queensland’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, QueenslandBoy names, Queensland
1. Amelia, 321
2. Charlotte, 308
3. Isla, 296
4. Olivia, 285
5. Ava, 250
6. Mia, 245
7. Willow, 233
8. Matilda, 232
9. Lily, 228
10. Ella, 216		1. Oliver, 539
2. Noah, 393
3. William, 359
4. Hudson, 357
5. Henry, 341
6. Theodore, 340
7. Leo, 332
8. Charlie, 276
9. Jack, 267
10. Luca, 257

Western Australia

Last year, Western Australia welcomed 31,474 (10.5%) of Australia’s babies. Here are WA’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, Western Aus.Boy names, Western Aus.
1. Isla, 162
2. Amelia, 150 (tie)
3. Olivia, 150 (tie)
4. Charlotte, 126
5. Mia, 122
6. Lily, 116 (tie)
7. Grace, 116 (tie)
8. Harper, 113 (tie)
9. Ava, 113 (tie)
10. Willow, 105		1. Oliver, 260
2. Noah, 178
3. Leo, 171
4. Charlie, 151
5. Jack, 140
6. Hudson, 136 (tie)
7. Thomas, 136 (tie)
8. Theodore, 132
9. Henry, 131
10. Levi/James/Luca, 124 each (3-way tie)

South Australia

Last year, South Australia welcomed 19,502 (6.5%) of Australia’s babies. Here are SA’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, South Aus.Boy names, South Aus.
1. Isla, 111
2. Charlotte, 110
3. Amelia, 89
4. Willow, 84
5. Grace, 82
6. Olivia, 81
7. Lily, 75
8. Ella/Harper/Matilda/Mia, 72 each (4-way tie)		1. Oliver, 181
2. Noah, 142
3. Henry, 121
4. Leo, 108
5. Archie, 107
6. William, 93
7. Hudson, 90
8. Luca, 87
9. Charlie, 83 (tie)
10. Thomas, 83 (tie)

Australian Capital Territory

Last year, the ACT (Canberra) welcomed 6,375 (2.1%) of Australia’s babies. Here are the ACT’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, ACTBoy names, ACT
1. Charlotte
2. Isla
3. Evelyn
4. Amelia
5. Zoe
6. Ella (tie)
7. Hazel (tie)
8. Ava/Freya/Grace/Olivia (4-way tie)		1. Oliver
2. Henry
3. William
4. Leo
5. Theodore
6. Noah
7. Arthur
8. George (tie)
9. Thomas (tie)
10. Elijah/Levi/Lucas (3-way tie)

Tasmania

Last year, Tasmania welcomed 5,498 (1.8%) of Australia’s babies. Here are Tasmania’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, TasmaniaBoy names, Tasmania
1. Grace
2. Willow
3. Charlotte
4. Mia
5. Matilda
6. Hazel
7. Elsie
8. Harper
9. Isla
10. Daisy		1. Oliver
2. Henry
3. George
4. Hudson
5. Archie
6. Noah
7. Theodore
8. Charlie
9. Leo
10. Jack

Northern Territory

Last year, Northern Territory welcomed 3,577 (1.2%) of Australia’s babies. Here are NT’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl names, NTBoy names, NT
1. Charlotte, 18
2. Matilda, 16
3. Ava, 14
4. Amelia, 13 (3-way tie)
5. Ella, 13 (3-way tie)
6. Isla, 13 (3-way tie)
7. Harper, 12 (tie)
8. Isabella, 12 (tie)
9. Grace, 9
10. Frankie/Ruby/Sadie/Willow, 8 each (4-way tie)		1. Noah, 16 (tie)
2. William, 16 (tie)
3. Levi, 14
4. Michael, 12 (tie)
5. Xavier, 12 (tie)
6. Hudson, 11 (3-way tie)
7. Jack, 11 (3-way tie)
8. James, 11 (3-way tie)
9. Archer/Harry/Lucas, 10 each (3-way tie)
map of Australia

Australia overall

Finally, using the data above, let’s make a guess about Australia’s top baby names overall. Here’s what I came up with:

Australia’s top girl names (possibly)Australia’s top boy names (possibly)
1. Charlotte
2. Amelia
3. Isla
4. Olivia
5. Mia		1. Oliver
2. Noah
3. Leo
4. Henry
5. William

What are your thoughts on these? Would you have ranked them differently?

(My guesses regarding Australia’s top names of 2021 had Isla and Oliver in the top spots.)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Australia (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Australia location map by NordNordWest under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Popular and unique baby names in Iowa, 2022

Flag of Iowa
Flag of Iowa

Did you know that Iowa is the only U.S. state bordered by two navigable rivers (i.e., rivers used for interstate commerce)? Its eastern border is formed by the Mississippi River, and its western border is formed by the Missouri River (for the most part).

Last year, the state’s most popular baby names were Olivia and Oliver, according to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services

Here are Iowa’s top 20 girl names and top 20+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 173 baby girls
  2. Charlotte, 155
  3. Ava, 130
  4. Emma, 122
  5. Amelia, 118
  6. Evelyn, 114
  7. Harper, 109
  8. Eleanor, 105
  9. Hazel, 94
  10. Nora, 93
  11. Scarlett, 91
  12. Ellie, 89
  13. Sophia, 85
  14. Avery, 84
  15. Ivy, 83
  16. Violet, 82
  17. Isabella, 78
  18. Grace, 74 (tie)
  19. Willow, 74 (tie)
  20. Aurora, 67

Boy Names

  1. Oliver, 198 baby boys
  2. Liam, 180
  3. Theodore, 163
  4. Henry, 156
  5. William, 127
  6. Leo, 122
  7. Hudson, 121
  8. Jack, 119 (tie)
  9. Owen, 119 (tie)
  10. James, 118
  11. Brooks, 115
  12. Asher, 112
  13. Wyatt, 108
  14. Elijah, 107
  15. Maverick, 101
  16. Noah, 98
  17. Bennett, 90 (tie)
  18. Cooper, 90 (tie)
  19. Jackson, 88
  20. Lincoln, 87 (tie)
  21. Lucas, 87 (tie)

The SSA’s rankings for Iowa are largely (though not exactly) the same.

Now for the fun part — unique names!

In total, 3,680 (67%) of the girl names and 2,801 (58%) of the boy names bestowed in Iowa last year were given to a single baby. Here’s a selection of Iowa’s unique baby names of 2022:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Alini, Brillith, Clovianna, Demri, Eleen, Fienne, Giantra, Hinata, Idara, Jimmilah, Ketsia, Lithena, Meridia, Nashley, Prinsha, Quinlyn, Rencalina, Simrat, Tauren, Uniti, Velzy, Weaver, Xella, Yusali, ZevlynAckley, Berrick, Clandson, Dazin, Eitan, Faron, Grayler, Hemby, Indie, Jefrin, Kindness, Lijah, Maiti, Noriel, Olten, Percy, Quineal, Raul, Solanus, Trendale, Ukiyo, Vaylor, Westlan, Xanthos, Yannick, Zario

Some of the single-use noun-names I spotted were Fjord (boy), Badger (boy), Minnow (girl), Sparrow (girl), Lithium (boy), and Paprika (girl).

I also noticed the name Caladan (boy), which was likely inspired by the planet Caladan from the movie Dune: Part One, which was released in late 2021.

Speaking of 2021…here’s a link to Iowa’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Baby Names – Iowa Health & Human Services, Iowa – Wikipedia, Iowa’s Waterway System – Iowa DOT

Image: Adapted from Flag of Iowa (public domain)

Girl names on the rise in Canada in 2022

hot air balloons

Which names were the trendiest among baby girls in Canada last year?

Below you’ll find Canada’s fastest-rising and highest-debuting girl names of 2022.

Before we get to the names, though, please note that rises and debuts in the Canadian data aren’t going to be directly comparable to rises and debuts in the U.S. data, because Canada releases much less data than the U.S. does. Canada’s data only goes back to 1991, and only goes down to names given to five more more babies per gender, per year.

(The U.S. baby name data does have a similar 5-baby threshold for inclusion, but the U.S. is nearly nine times larger than Canada in terms of population. To make the cut-offs equivalent, you’d have to increase the U.S. number to something like 45 babies.)

Ok, now that that’s out of the way…

Rises (absolute)

Here are the girl names that saw the biggest increases in usage in terms of absolute change (numbers of babies) from 2021 to 2022:

  1. Millie, rose from 153 to 208 baby girls (+55)
  2. Wren, 233 to 281 (+48)
  3. Lily, 813 to 861 (+48)
  4. Ajooni, 53 to 95 (+42)
  5. Selena, 154 to 195 (+41)
    • Selena was tied with Myla and Eloise, both of which also increased by 41 babies.

Ajooni may have been influenced by the Hindi-language soap opera Ajooni, which aired from mid-2022 to mid-2023 on the Disney-owned TV channel Star Bharat.

Rises (relative)

Here are the girl names that saw the biggest increases in usage in terms of relative change (percentages of babies) from 2021 to 2022:

  1. Harnaaz, rose from 11 to 49 baby girls (345% increase)
  2. Anabia, 8 to 29 (263%)
  3. Lindsey, 6 to 21 (250%)
  4. Raunak, 6 to 21 (250%)
  5. Rya, 5 to 17 (240%)

Harnaaz, which was also one of the fast-rising girl names in the U.S. last year, was influenced by beauty queen Harnaaz Sandhu of India. She was crowned Miss Universe in December of 2021.

Debuts

Finally, here are the girl names that debuted most impressively in Canada’s baby name data in 2022:

  1. Cirilla, 17 baby girls
  2. Halston, 13
  3. Hiraya, 12
  4. Wrenlee, 11
  5. Ozzy, 11

Cirilla was no doubt inspired by the character Princess Cirilla from The Witcher, which began as a series of fantasy novels, but has since been made into a Netflix series (among other things). Cirilla debuted in the U.S. data in 2016 with about the same number of babies, interestingly.

Other girl-name debuts included Laramie (6), Peach (6), Winslet (6), and Valley (5).

And, just in case you’re curious about the decreases, Canada’s fastest-falling girl names in terms of absolute change were Olivia, Ava, and Emma, and in terms of relative change were Tiaraoluwa, Addisyn, and Kaila.

Sources: First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators (Number) – Statistics Canada, Baby Names Observatory – Statistics Canada

Image: Adapted from Turkey-2036 by Dennis Jarvis under CC BY-SA 2.0.