Ava

Ava is a name with multiple proposed origins. In its Germanic form it derives from a short form of names beginning with the element avi, of uncertain meaning, possibly related to water or island; it was borne by the 9th-century Frankish poet Ava, one of the earliest known female writers in the German language. A separate Persian origin connects it to a word meaning voice or sound. The name was revived in the English-speaking world largely through the fame of American actress Ava Gardner, and it remains related to the variant Eva as well as the longer Germanic forms Aveline and Avis.