Head to head · Girls' names
Ailany vs Ava
#14 vs #11 in 2025
Ava is a whisker ahead (#11 vs #14 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Ava is stepping back from its peak, Ailany is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Ailany has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Ava leads 5 measures of 6; Ailany leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Ailany —, Ava #394 — Ava higher
- 1890s: Ailany —, Ava #403 — Ava higher
- 1900s: Ailany —, Ava #464 — Ava higher
- 1910s: Ailany —, Ava #479 — Ava higher
- 1920s: Ailany —, Ava #565 — Ava higher
- 1930s: Ailany —, Ava #619 — Ava higher
- 1940s: Ailany —, Ava #702 — Ava higher
- 1950s: Ailany —, Ava #436 — Ava higher
- 1960s: Ailany —, Ava #660 — Ava higher
- 1970s: Ailany —, Ava #993 — Ava higher
- 1980s: Ailany —, Ava #1065 — Ava higher
- 1990s: Ailany —, Ava #682 — Ava higher
- 2000s: Ailany #8076, Ava #49 — Ava higher
- 2010s: Ailany #3836, Ava #4 — Ava higher
- 2020s: Ailany #886, Ava #7 — Ava higher
Ava stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Ailany | Ava |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #394 |
| 1890s | — | #403 |
| 1900s | — | #464 |
| 1910s | — | #479 |
| 1920s | — | #565 |
| 1930s | — | #619 |
| 1940s | — | #702 |
| 1950s | — | #436 |
| 1960s | — | #660 |
| 1970s | — | #993 |
| 1980s | — | #1065 |
| 1990s | — | #682 |
| 2000s | #8076 | #49 |
| 2010s | #3836 | #4 |
| 2020s | #886 | #7 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Ailany
Not charting outside the US.
Ava
- England & Wales#9
- Canada#10
- Scotland#13
- France#40
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Ailany
Not established
No etymology has been established for Ailany. What is documented is the name itself: it appears in United States birth records, it is given to girls, and it sits inside a family of similar spellings. The nearby form Alani matches a Hawaiian word for the orange tree, and the -ani ending recurs in names like Amani and Imani, but nobody has shown that Ailany descends from either. It is best treated as a modern American coinage of sound rather than of meaning.
How it traveled
Ailany is a recent American name, and the record for it begins in the United States rather than anywhere older. It belongs to a wave of vowel-rich girls' names built on the -ani and -any ending, several of which appeared within a few years of one another and spread by sound rather than by any single famous bearer.
Ava
Contested — most often read as a form of Eva, "life"
Three serious readings compete. Many treat Ava as a variant of Eva, from Hebrew Chavvah, "life." Others trace it to a medieval Germanic name Ava, recorded in Frankish and German sources, whose root is not established — sometimes linked to a Germanic element meaning something like "desired." A third reading connects it to Latin avis, "bird," though that one has the least support. Separately, Persian āvā means "voice" or "song," and the spelling coincides.
How it traveled
Ava has two roads into English, and they arrive at the same three letters. One is Germanic and medieval: Ava appears as a woman's name in Frankish and German records, including the twelfth-century poet, and its root meaning was already unclear to the scribes who wrote it.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Ailany
eye-LAH-nee
Also said ay-LAH-nee, with the first syllable like the letter A. Both are in use, so whichever you choose, expect to say it once at each new introduction. The spelling gives no firm rule either way.
- Lany — Informal short form taken from the last two syllables; not a traditional nickname with its own history, since the name is too new for one.
- Ailie — Informal, drawn from the first syllable; overlaps in sound with the separate Scottish name Ailie.
- Ani — Informal short form; also stands alone as a given name in Armenian and Georgian, where it is unrelated to Ailany.
Ava
AY-vuh
In English the first vowel is long: AY-vuh. In German, Dutch, Italian and Persian the same spelling is said AH-vah, which is worth knowing in a multilingual family. Over the phone it is sometimes heard as Ada, Ana or Eva, so spelling it out saves a step.
- Avie — Informal, family-level; also spelled Avy. Rarely used in writing.
- Aves — Playground and sibling shorthand, spoken rather than written.
- Ava — Most bearers use the full name at every register — it is already about as short as a given name gets, and also serves as the short form for compounds like Ava-Grace or Ava-Rose.
Who has carried each name
Ailany
No documented entry for Ailany yet.
Ava
Ava Gardner (b. 1922) — Smoldering Golden Age star of The Barefoot Contessa
Ava Max (b. 1994) — Pop hitmaker behind "Sweet but Psycho"
Ava DuVernay (b. 1972) — First Black woman to direct a $100 million film (A Wrinkle in Time)
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Ailany if you want…
- a name on the way upup 1,736 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAilany runs 3 syllables, Ava 2
- a newer arrivalAilany entered the US charts in 2000
Choose Ava if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAva is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesAva is 2 syllables to Ailany's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooAva is on the national lists of England & Wales, Canada, Scotland and France
- a long American recordAva was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Ailany
Strengths
- Easy to say once heard: three syllables, no consonant clusters, and an ending sound shared with many familiar girls' names.
- A child carrying it is unlikely to share it with anyone in her class or year group.
- The name is on the rise rather than in decline, so it is becoming more recognizable rather than less.
To consider
- The spelling will need repeating for life. Ailani, Aylani and Alani are all in circulation, and people who know one will default to it.
- Pronunciation is genuinely unsettled between eye-LAH-nee and ay-LAH-nee, so she will be introducing her own name for years.
- There is no established meaning to give when someone asks, which some parents mind and others find freeing.
Ava
Strengths
- Three letters, phonetic in English, and almost never misspelled once heard — a child can write it before starting school.
- Charts in England and Wales, Canada, Scotland and France as well as the United States, so it travels without translation.
- Present in American records since the earliest years of national name-keeping, so it is not a recent coinage even though its wave is recent.
To consider
- It is genuinely widespread among children right now: a classroom-mate or two with the same name is a realistic prospect, and a last initial often gets attached.
- Because its rise is so recent and so steep, the name reads as a marker of one particular generation — much as certain mid-century names do today.
- There is almost no shortening available. If you like having a formal name and a nickname, Ava gives you one register rather than two.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Ailany and Ava in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Ailany and Ava?
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Ailany and Ava — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Ailany or Ava — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Ailany or Ava?
- Ava, in 2025: Ava ranked #11 with 7,732 babies; Ailany ranked #14 with 7,136 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Ailany or Ava?
- Ailany. Over the last five years Ailany moved up 1,736 places; Ava moved down 8 places.
- Which is the older name, Ailany or Ava?
- Ailany entered the US charts in 2000; Ava was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Ava is the older name.
- How many people are named Ailany and Ava?
- About 11,000 people named Ailany are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 335,000 people named Ava are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Ailanys or Avas in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 9 classrooms will have a child named Ailany. Roughly 1 in 8 classrooms will have a child named Ava.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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