Eva (name)

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Eva is a female given name, the Latinate counterpart of English Eve, derived from Hebrew name meaning "life" or "living one." It is the standard biblical form of Eve in many European languages.

Popularity

During the 1990 U.S. Census, approximately 0.159 percent of females counted had the first name Eva. The popularity of the name Eva has been consistently in the top 300s, according to the Social Security Administration website. Popularity peaked in 1889 when the name hit No. 31. It began to dip, gradually falling into top 300s, until the turn of the 21st century, when the frequency of the name Eva began to rise. In 2005 it sits at No. 129. In England and Wales, Eva was reasonably popular around 1900, but it has been little used since, Eve and Evie being the preferred forms today. The name is traditionally more popular in Ireland and Scotland, as an anglicization of Gaelic Aoife "shining, radiant". In continental Europe (particularly in Northern Europe after the Reformation) it is currently popular in Slovak, Czech, Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, Danish, Romanian, Hungarian, Spanish, German, Dutch, according to Google Trends. The Hebrew equivalent of Eva is "Hawwa," (or "Chava"), used in the Adam and Eve creation story and meaning "life."

References

• The Best Baby Name Book in the Whole Wide World (1984) by Bruce Lansky
• Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names

See also

• Special:Allpages/Eva, list of articles starting with "Eva"
• EVA