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Baby Name of the Day: Eva

By 23 Comments

Eve had her turn in the spotlight, and Ava needs no introduction. But what of their cousin?

Thanks to Melissa for suggesting Eva as Baby Name of the Day.

The trouble with Eva is that she’s close to Ava. Very close to Ava. Which means plenty of parents are choosing her as something just a little different. Depending on your background, Eva might even be pronounced AY vah – think of Green Acres’ Eva Gabor – adding to the confusion.

But despite these hiccoughs, Eva has an awful lot going for her. Her international popularity is considerable. Eva ranks:

  • In the Top Ten of Slovenia, Iceland and the Netherlands;
  • Among Belgium’s Top 20 and Scotland’s, too;
  • In the Spanish, Irish and Austrian Top 50;
  • Finally, she numbers among the Top 100 in Hungary and Norway and just re-entered the US Top 100 in 2009.

So if you’re going globe-trotting avec your darling daughter, Eva is one name that others will recognize from Reykjavik to Gibraltar.

Like her Biblical sister, Eva is linked to the Hebrew word for life. In the US, she’s long outranked the spare Eve as a given name, possibly because she’s the tiniest bit frillier, or maybe because she’s not quite as linked to serpents and apples.

She is, however, linked to Hitler’s mistress, Eva Braun. But you can overlook her in favor of many other notable Evas, including:

 

  • Pioneering eighteenth century Swedish scientist Eva Ekeblad;
  • Viennese figure skater turned groundbreaking German sports journalist Eva Pawlik;
  • Argentina’s Eva Peron, immortalized by Broadway and Hollywood as Evita;
  • Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Eva Marie Saint, best remembered for her roles in On the Waterfront – and for playing Eve in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest in the 1950s, though her career spanned decades;
  • Pop singer Little Eva taught us all how to do “The Loco-Motion” with her #1 single in 1962;
  • More recently, Desperate Housewives made Eva Longoria Parker a household name;
  • Paris-born Eva Green scored a BAFTA for her portrayal of Vesper Lynd in 2006’s Casino Royale;
  • The silver screen also gives us Eva Mendes from films like Hitch and The Women.

There’s one more actress to add, one that lends starbaby appeal to this name – Susan Sarandon’s firstborn, daughter Eva Amurri.

Eva was popular in the US in the nineteenth century, and appeared in the Top 100 right through 1932. Since the late 1990s, there’s been an uptick of interest in Eva.

In 2003, Gabrielle Union played Eva in Deliver Us from Eva, a reboot of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. It’s not a negative reference – though Ms. Union’s Evangeline is one tough cookie – but some parents might find the similarity between the name and the word evil a bit off-putting.

But overall, Eva is an antidote to the many three-letter, two-syllable names that have been at the heights of popularity in recent years, from Ava to Mia and even Zoe. She’s also a possible short form of many attractive options, from Evelyn and Everly to Evangeline and Genevieve.

With her international flair and long history of use, Eva is a sound choice for a daughter – and many parents may think so, too!


More names you might like:

Comments

  2. My daughter’s name is Eva, and of course I love it, but all her life she has thought it was weird and that she could never be popular or have “cool” friends with her name…she hates the letter V, I guess. Still love the name though!

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  3. Eva is a family name, so I have that association. I like it but not enough. Know of two little Eva’s now. Did know an eh-va, not ee-va or a-va, and I prefer that over anything Ava, which I don’t like. I do like the nickname Evie.

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  5. For a long time, Eva was on the top of my list if I ever have a little girl. My great grandmother’s name was Eva, although she went by Ev-vy. It’s too popular for her now as is her daughter’s name Lillian (my grandmother), although she went by Lynn, so now they will have to be middle names, but I loved reading about Eva.

    Sarah

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  6. I don’t mind Eva, but I don’t love it.

    Mostly it’s the pronunciation issue, but in my mind AY-vah is strictly Hitler’s mistress and EV-ah is a “Mean Girl” from my middle school days. If I could guarantee that Eva would be pronounced only as EE-vah I’d consider it, but I prefer Eve.

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  7. Eva was the name of one of my grandmothers, but it has bittersweet connotations for me.

    I love the name, and it would be nice to honor my Nana. However, Eva was a very troubled person, and dealing with her was usually difficult. My family likely would feel that the name has a bad legacy.

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  8. My name is Eva! I pronounce it EEV-uh. I’m named after my great-grandma. I really love my name, but I hate that its getting popular. Another problem is that nobody pronounces it the way I do. So, on the first day of school, I always get AY-vuh or EV-uh, with a short E. Plus, my last name is long and complicated to. One time, the butchered it so bad, I didnt even know they were calling my name. I always have to correct my teachers, and sometimes they still dont get it right. In 6th grade, I was too shy to tell my math teacher that my name wasn’t pronounced AY-vuh. So on all the papers I handed it, I always underlined the E or made it bold. One time, I even wrote “Eeeva”. He never got the hint.

    this is my favorite mispronunciation story: The past few times I’ve gone to the doctors office, the receptionist always says – “Eeba? is it spelled E-B-A? or is it Eva”. And I’m like “Yeah, lady. My parents named me Eeba”

    I definitely would reccomend my name (even though I dont want it to be popular) to parents who arent scared of pronunciation problems who like simple, but exotic names.

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    • Oh and I forgot to mention I know another Eva my age. I’ve known her for 3 years, and she was in a few of my classes in school. and whenever someone calls out Eva, even if they are talking to her, I always look up or have some kind of reaction. It’s impossible for me not to react when i hear “Eva” because most of my life I was the only Eva I knew. (Besides my great-grandma, but everyone called her ma or grandma) And on the rare times I ignore someone saying “Eva”, it turns out that they are actually talking to me!

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      • Hahaha I’m also called Eva after my mom and I love my name but also don’t like the fact it’s getting popular, I’m the only Eva at my school, but recently I got a Saturday job and the woman I work for has a granddaughter called Eva who comes to the shop quite often and I always think they’re talking to me when they’re not. I pronounce my name Ee-vah and so does everyone else except these two teachers who pronounce it as Ay-vah which I find quite interesting as no one had ever pronounced it that way :’) I’m from Slovakia and when I lived there people use to pronounce it as E-vah and I really don’t like it xD I think Ee-vah sounds way better and people often call me Eee (: I don’t seem to have any problem with spelling everyone spells it as EVA unlike my last name which id Klar and I always end up as Clark or Clarke and when I spell it out for them they still put a C instead of K xD and then I’m Eva Clar :L

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  9. Eva is a nice classic. She is strong, feminine, easy to say and ages well. The only problem is that I fear she may be the next Ava.

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  10. @fran – I love that you went with Neve for her nn! Very nice!

    Eva is lovely. It is wonderfully international – great positive! But the pronunciation thing is a little bit of a downer. To add to the EEvah and AYvah possibilities, a friend of a friend is of Italian heritage and her daughter is nicknamed Eva, said EHvah (or thereabouts)! But once you correct someone and tell them, no it’s EEvah (or whichever), then people will easily follow suit, since neither version is confusing or difficult. If you go with EEvah there will be no question about spelling, either.

    The name won’t shock anyone, it’s popular enough, and it’s altogether possible you’ll have a little Ava in your child’s class at some point (or even a kid with Eva as a nn, given all the pretty names that lead to it as a nn). I like the name, but would not use it as the given, personally, because I’d prefer to have more nn options. Also, it’s a tad on the popular side/too similar to names that are popular for my liking. But if that doesn’t put you off, then the name is a fantastic choice!

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  11. i like this name but not how close it is to ava (i remember watching a tv show recently where eva was pronunced ah-va by the american character and ee-va by the australian). we considered eva as a nickname for our oldest genevieve but ended up going for neve (pronounced like the irish niamh) so that she was just a little different

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  12. This is my mother’s maiden name, so I’ve definitely considered it. I love the international-ness of it, but I’m just not 100% sold.

    Reply

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