The Baby Name Wizard

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Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Ada!

Comments and insights on the name Ada: | Edit

It's a palindrome!

Personal experiences with the name Ada: | Edit

* I am named Ada, after my great grandmother. Growing up, I didn't like the name because nobody else I knew had the same name and teachers had trouble pronouncing it. The first time I ever met another Ada was at a party right after college. People were signing up to play beer pong and there was an Ada signed up. I immediately thought "who signed me up?" but then found out that there was, indeed, another Ada in the world. I immediately sought her out and asked her about her name. She said her mother opened the baby name book and it was the first one she saw! I like my name now, because it's unique and has history. I work in a job where I'm on the phone with new people often. Every few months I talk to somebody and they tell me that their great aunt or grandmother or mother was named Ada. I love to hear that and it gives me a nice connection to my great grandmother Ada.

* One might think that with such a simple name there would be little or no spelling confusion; not so. People routinely wonder if it is spelled "Aida" (which we pronounce "i-EE-deh") or "Adah". For some reason the simplest spelling -- Ada -- is rarely if ever the first proposed spelling.

Nicknames for Ada: | Edit

A. Seriously, what other nickname could there be for a name with 3 letters!

Ada-suffix. Like, "Ada-baby", "Ada-berry", "Ada-beta".

Meanings and history of the name Ada: | Edit

Ada (AH dah) is a Hebrew biblical name meaning "adornment". An English form of the name is Adah. Ada was the wife of Lamech and the mother of Jabal and Jubal. Another Ada was a wife of Esau and the daughter of Elon the Hittite. It can also be a short form of Adelaide, and is a West African name of obviously different etymology.

Ada, Countess of Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron. She is famous for having written a description of Charles Babbage's early computer, the analytical engine, and its potential uses -- thus, she is known as the first computer programmer. A computer language is named after her.

The Ada Gospels are dedicated to Charlemagne's sister Ada.

Famous real-life people named Ada: | Edit

* Ada Lovelace, first person to write a computer program, only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron
* Ada Yonath, Nobel Prize winning chemist

Ada in song, story & screen: | Edit

* "Ada", song by indie rock band The National
* Ada is played by Nicole Kidman in the movie "Cold Mountain."
* Ada is the main character in the movie "The Piano"
* "Conceiving Ada" 1997 film by Lynn Hershman-Leeson, starring Tilda Swinton; named after Ada Lovelace