Nameberry.com editors Pamela Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz — who penned the books Baby Name Bible and Beyond Ava & Aiden– are blogging for UsMagazine.com about why celebs choose the names they do, and what they mean.
When a pregnant Amy Adams told UsMagazine in January that she tended "to be more attracted to traditional names," it led us to expect something as straightforward as Amy or fiance's name Darren Le Gallo. But when her daughter arrived on May 15, she was given an anything but traditional name.
BLOGS: Read more "What's in a Name?" columns
Aviana Olea is, in fact, a pair of names not to be found in any list of conventional monikers. Aviana, which might be seen as a ultra-feminine, or feminissima, elaboration of the mega-popular Ava, now No. 5 on the recently released Social Security Administration list of most popular girls' names. Given to more than 15,000 babies last year, its starting syllable is related to the Latin word for bird, avis.
In addition to the countless celebs who have chosen Ava for their daughters — from Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe to Hugh Jackman to Paz Vega — others have chosen names from the same family. Gossip Girl's Matthew Settle has an Aven, Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn have a daughter named Avery — which is rapidly growing in popularity — and Daniel Baldwin stuck to the original Avis.
Soundwise, Aviana is also a cousin to a whole clan of currently trendy names, including Ariana/Arianna, Adriana, Audriana, Aliana/Eliana and Viviana.
Middle name Olea is an equally intriguing choice. Following through on the Latin theme, it is the name of the genus of evergreen trees that includes the olive. It is also an occasionally used Norwegian and Danish girls' name and is said to be an Old Hebrew word for night or moon.
