Ava

Ava Gardner in a black satin gown, leaning against a piano with a cigarette and no particular plans — that is the image the name conjures, and it has never fully shaken it. The etymology is contested: possibly Germanic aval, meaning desired, possibly the Latin avis, bird. Take your pick. What matters is the shape: two open vowels bracketing a soft v, a palindrome of a name that reads the same going or coming. After Reese Witherspoon used it in 1999, Ava rocketed up the American charts and has lived in the top ten ever since. Cinematic, compact, and quietly self-possessed.