Ava (given name)  Ava is a feminine given name in the English and in other languages. Its recent popularity may be linked to a number of celebrity babies of the 1990s, who were ultimately named after American actress Ava Gardner (1922—1990). The medieval name "Ava" is an abbreviation of a Germanic name containing the first element "aw-", of uncertain meaning. Old High German (8th to 9th centuries) dithematic feminine names with this element include "Avagisa, Avuldis, Awanpurc, Auwanildis". Saint Ava was a 9th-century princess, daughter of Pepin II of Aquitaine. Ava was also the name of a medieval German woman poet. This name is the origin of the Norman French name of Aveline, which in turn gave rise to the English given name of Evelyn. As evidence for the name is lacking between the later medieval and the modern period, the "Oxford Dictionary of First Names" supposes that it was coined anew as a modern innovation, presumably as a variant of Eva, or (like "Eva") used as an anglicization of the Irish name Aoife. Āvā is also a feminine given name in the Persian language, meaning "voice, sound". In the Russian language, Ava () may be a diminutive form of either the female names Avelina, Avenira, Aventina, Avgusta/Avgustina, Aviafa, Aviya (a form of Abijah), Avreliya, Avreya, and Avrora (a form of Aurora), or the male names Avdey, Avel, Avenir, Aventin, Avgust, Avim, Avram (a form of Abram), Avrelian, and Avrely. The name was popularized in the United States by socialite Ava Lowle Willing (1868–1958), who married John Jacob Astor IV, and their daughter, socialite and heiress Ava Alice Muriel Astor (1902–1956). Ava Gardner (1922–1990) signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and gained Hollywood stardom with her performance in "The Killers" (1946). She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses during the 1950s to 1970s and is the ultimate reason for the given name's continued popularity. The name is increasingly popular in the United States, where it was the most popular name given to baby girls in several states in 2006 and the fourth most popular name nationwide in 2007, and in Canada, where it is among the 10 most popular given names for baby girls in several provinces.