Head to head · Girls' names
Amelia vs Ava
#4 vs #11 in 2025
Amelia is a whisker ahead (#4 vs #11 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Amelia is climbing the charts fast, Ava is stepping back from its peak.
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, Amelia leads 3 measures of 6; Ava 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: Amelia #100, Ava #394 — Amelia higher
- 1890s: Amelia #123, Ava #403 — Amelia higher
- 1900s: Amelia #154, Ava #464 — Amelia higher
- 1910s: Amelia #168, Ava #479 — Amelia higher
- 1920s: Amelia #215, Ava #565 — Amelia higher
- 1930s: Amelia #254, Ava #619 — Amelia higher
- 1940s: Amelia #307, Ava #702 — Amelia higher
- 1950s: Amelia #382, Ava #436 — Amelia higher
- 1960s: Amelia #439, Ava #660 — Amelia higher
- 1970s: Amelia #399, Ava #993 — Amelia higher
- 1980s: Amelia #264, Ava #1065 — Amelia higher
- 1990s: Amelia #218, Ava #682 — Amelia higher
- 2000s: Amelia #112, Ava #49 — Ava higher
- 2010s: Amelia #17, Ava #4 — Ava higher
- 2020s: Amelia #4, Ava #7 — Amelia higher
Amelia stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Amelia took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Amelia | Ava |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #100 | #394 |
| 1890s | #123 | #403 |
| 1900s | #154 | #464 |
| 1910s | #168 | #479 |
| 1920s | #215 | #565 |
| 1930s | #254 | #619 |
| 1940s | #307 | #702 |
| 1950s | #382 | #436 |
| 1960s | #439 | #660 |
| 1970s | #399 | #993 |
| 1980s | #264 | #1065 |
| 1990s | #218 | #682 |
| 2000s | #112 | #49 |
| 2010s | #17 | #4 |
| 2020s | #4 | #7 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Amelia
- England & Wales#2
- Scotland#4
- Canada#4
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
Amelia
From the Germanic element amal, 'work' or 'labor'
The one real tangle is that Amelia has been used interchangeably with the Latin Aemilia (the source of Emilia and Emily), which comes from an entirely different root. The two names have shared spellings and pronunciations for centuries, but their origins are separate.
Amal (Germanic name element) → Amalia → Amelia
How it traveled
The root is the Germanic amal, 'work', an element that appears in the name of the Amal dynasty of Ostrogothic kings and in medieval names such as Amalberga and Amalia. Amalia traveled through German-speaking Europe and reached Britain with the Hanoverians in the eighteenth century, where it settled into the English spelling Amelia.
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
Amelia
uh-MEEL-yuh
Also said in four syllables, uh-MEE-lee-uh. Both are standard in American English and neither needs correcting; the four-syllable version is a little more common in British use.
- Millie — The most-used short form in both the US and Britain; also a given name in its own right, historically from Millicent and Mildred.
- Amy — The traditional English clipping, and long established as an independent name, which means an adult Amelia can use it formally.
- Mia — Taken from the middle of the name rather than the front; widely used on its own as a given name too.
- Lia — Informal, mostly within families; more common where the Italian and Spanish Amalia is the parent form.
- Also Mel.
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
Amelia
Amelia Earhart (b. 1897) — First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
Amelia Bloomer (b. 1818) — Suffragist whose dress-reform trousers were nicknamed "bloomers" after her
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 Amelia if you want…
- a name on the way upup 2 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAmelia runs 3 syllables, Ava 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Millie, Amy and Mia
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 63% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 84% for Ava
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 Amelia's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooAva is on the national lists of England & Wales, Canada, Scotland and France
- a name that feels very nowAva is stepping back from its peak
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
Amelia
Strengths
- On American records since the earliest national name counts, so it has never needed reviving — the current wave is a return, not an invention.
- Three settled short forms already in general use — Millie, Amy, Mia — so a bearer can pick her own level of formality without explaining it.
- Charts independently in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada, and travels as Amélie, Amalia, Amalie and Amália across the Continent.
To consider
- It is genuinely widespread at the moment. Expect another Amelia in the year group, and expect Emilia, Amelie and Emily in the same room.
- The two names have been blurred for centuries, so she will be written down as Emilia now and then, and asked which one she is.
- Because the wave is recent, most Amelias in the US today are children and teenagers; the name will read as young for a long while yet.
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.
How each is likely to age
Amelia
63%chance Amelia feels dated by 2040
Amelia is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Ava
84%chance Ava feels dated by 2040
Ava is coming down from a big peak (#3 in 2016). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Amelia and Ava in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Amelia and Ava?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- all guides
Every list here names both Amelia and Ava — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Amelia or Ava — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Amelia or Ava?
- Amelia, in 2025: Amelia ranked #4 with 12,699 babies; Ava ranked #11 with 7,732 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Amelia or Ava?
- Amelia. Over the last five years Amelia moved up 2 places; Ava moved down 8 places.
- Which is the older name, Amelia or Ava?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Amelia and Ava?
- About 244,000 people named Amelia 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 Amelias or Avas in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 5 classrooms will have a child named Amelia. 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Amelia, Ava and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap