Wava
Wava was last recorded in 1987, when 7 babies were given it; 1,727 Americans have been recorded with it between 1892 and 1987 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wava by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wava mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wava is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wava?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #9,790, in 1987; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
60 babies in 1924, the peak
Wava peaked in 1924, when 60 girls were given it, #991 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 7 | #9,790 | 4.0 |
| 1979 | 5 | #11,928 | 3.1 |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,507 | 2.8 |
| 1963 | 5 | #7,637 | 2.6 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,845 | 3.6 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,837 | 3.5 |
| 1960 | 8 | #5,162 | 4.0 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,556 | 3.5 |
| 1958 | 13 | #3,539 | 6.5 |
| 1957 | 8 | #4,904 | 3.9 |
Every recorded year (74)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 10 | #4,154 | 5.0 |
| 1955 | 11 | #3,774 | 5.6 |
| 1954 | 17 | #2,775 | 8.8 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,475 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 18 | #2,576 | 9.7 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,932 | 7.8 |
| 1950 | 17 | #2,531 | 9.9 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,847 | 8.2 |
| 1948 | 21 | #2,185 | 12.4 |
| 1947 | 25 | #1,989 | 14.1 |
| 1946 | 24 | #1,917 | 15.3 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,538 | 4.6 |
| 1944 | 20 | #1,964 | 15.1 |
| 1943 | 23 | #1,831 | 16.5 |
| 1942 | 26 | #1,666 | 19.2 |
| 1941 | 36 | #1,293 | 29.8 |
| 1940 | 30 | #1,402 | 26.2 |
| 1939 | 24 | #1,584 | 21.9 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,648 | 20.8 |
| 1937 | 29 | #1,386 | 27.3 |
| 1936 | 37 | #1,185 | 35.6 |
| 1935 | 24 | #1,549 | 22.9 |
| 1934 | 36 | #1,204 | 34.5 |
| 1933 | 39 | #1,139 | 38.7 |
| 1932 | 47 | #1,042 | 44.0 |
| 1931 | 44 | #1,072 | 41.3 |
| 1930 | 54 | #1,012 | 48.0 |
| 1929 | 50 | #1,040 | 44.8 |
| 1928 | 57 | #993 | 49.4 |
| 1927 | 41 | #1,231 | 34.4 |
| 1926 | 54 | #1,022 | 45.6 |
| 1925 | 55 | #1,019 | 45.2 |
| 1924 | 60 | #991 | 48.0 |
| 1923 | 49 | #1,100 | 40.6 |
| 1922 | 51 | #1,077 | 42.5 |
| 1921 | 40 | #1,236 | 32.4 |
| 1920 | 38 | #1,254 | 31.7 |
| 1919 | 49 | #1,040 | 43.4 |
| 1918 | 41 | #1,183 | 35.4 |
| 1917 | 50 | #1,000 | 46.2 |
| 1916 | 49 | #992 | 46.9 |
| 1915 | 36 | #1,152 | 36.6 |
| 1914 | 36 | #1,002 | 47.3 |
| 1913 | 26 | #1,090 | 41.6 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,217 | 35.8 |
| 1911 | 15 | #1,239 | 35.9 |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,629 | 25.2 |
| 1909 | 14 | #1,149 | 40.3 |
| 1908 | 13 | #1,200 | 38.9 |
| 1907 | 9 | #1,510 | 28.3 |
| 1906 | 9 | #1,413 | 30.5 |
| 1905 | 16 | #967 | 54.9 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,866 | 21.8 |
| 1903 | 5 | #2,075 | 19.1 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,783 | 22.7 |
| 1901 | 9 | #1,222 | 37.6 |
| 1900 | 11 | #1,223 | 36.7 |
| 1898 | 7 | #1,497 | 27.1 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,541 | 25.6 |
| 1896 | 7 | #1,411 | 29.4 |
| 1895 | 11 | #1,051 | 47.1 |
| 1894 | 7 | #1,347 | 31.4 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,433 | 28.2 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,661 | 23.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Wava a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wava has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 74 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wava: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wava, and how old are they?
An estimated 340 Americans named Wava and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (20% of everyone recorded); the median is 79 years old and half are between 72 and 86. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 549 people named Wava (549 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 500 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Wava born?
The states with the most babies named Wava are Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, with 65% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Indiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 107 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 90 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Indiana | 57 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Iowa | 51 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Kentucky | 24 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 17 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Kansas | 16 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Georgia | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| South Dakota | 6 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Wava is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Wava is most over-represented in Ohio: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Wava with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,034 babies since 1880, Wava is the most given (85% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Wava
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Wava and names like it
- Compare Wava and WavieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sWava peaked in 1924.
- Ohio’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wava since 1910.
- The top names of 1924The year the most babies were named Wava.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Wava alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with WMost given first.