having to rethink the chosen name!!

[Ruidh]

The name we had chosen for our bump has just been ruined for me! So its back to the drawing board. Honest and brutal opinion please!
Also, might sway opinions to be aware that although I am from the south east we are living in the west country so accents may affect choice.
Here is the list:

Elvie
Alva
Elva
Ethne
Etta
Avalene
Iana
Ayana
Kailyn
Keara
Mairi
Nya
Nyla
Myla

Is Ava after Ava Gardner? If it is a link to that era, what about Greta, after Garbo?

Greta is lovely

My cousin whose name is Linzi who is now in her 40's has spent most of her life spelling out her name letter by letter and is fed up with it. You may have to do the same with some of the more unusual ones.

Have you checked out family names and middle names, West country names?

I have an Ella officially she is Eleanor Rose!

I live in the west country to and understand the comment about accents! One thing to consider if you are around people with a strong west country accent any name ending in "A" will be pronounced with an "ERR".

I quite like Etta out of your list.

i like Etta. Also Ada, Edie, Julia, Talia, Lydia, Anna.

Elodie?

Love Etta btw.

Honestly?

I don't like any of them at all. Many of them look made up or mis-spelled. Not my cup of tea at all I'm afraid.

Etta (and Ira) are lovely names, the association with terrorist groups is unfortunately unavoidable.

Oh God yes Alva! How could I have forgotten that dive!

Get that one OFF the list, OP!

Most of your possibilities are too unusual for my liking and none have the same feel - to me - as Ava.

You might like:
Ada
Adelaide
Adeline
Amy (or Aimée)
Anna
Arden
Aria
Ariel
Audrey (or Aubrey)
Aurelia
Aurora
Avalon (ah-va-lon)
Aviana (given by Amy Adams to her daughter after her birthplace of Aviano, Italy)
Avis
Avery
Cara
Clara
Eden
Edie
Eva
Faye
Greer
Greta
Harlow
Ivy
Mae
Maeve
Niamh
Scarlett
Sophia
Veronica
Vivien
Zoe

I particularly like Ada as an alternative. Great history: nameberry.com/babyname/Ada

i know a boy called Ira, it is pronounce eyerah? i think thats how you would spell it phonetically, anyway i guess i did think of the IRA when told his name, but quickly forgot about it and it doesnt seem to be an issue, he is high school age now and i have known him since he was 4.

someone has suggested Merryn on your thread, my dd is called that, we love it :)

They do all look as if you've dropped the scrabble bag- sorry.

I would try and stop thinking about it for a day or two. Then you ight come up with something new- or you might decide that Ava hasn't been spoiled after all.

Nina, Tamar and Talia as mentioned above are all lovely names. Nina I think is particularly pretty.

My favourite west country name is Lamorna, after Lamorna Cove in Cornwall. I love it but DH wasn't having any of it!

Ava is so popular at the moment, am sure you'll be relieved you changed your mind in the end. I know of a girl who was going to be Ava but her parents switched to Anwen when they realised how popular Ava was...that's a bit more Welsh than West Country, though.

My my you lot are opinionated! I LOVE it!
Thanks for all you suggestions. Can't believe some people don't like their unusual or weirdly spelled names. Both me and my sister have such names and love that we are the only people with those names and quite enjoy telling people how to spell them!
Well, I have a lot to think about. Thank you!

I love Myla, although I'm biased as I have one! The underwear thing doesn't really bother me, maybe as I'm in Scotland and we don't have any Myla shops here. Also there is a popular underwear brand called Freya and I know loads of them

If you like Mairi what about Mhairi pronounced Vhari?

Mhairi is the vocative case of the name Mairi.

Asa is a boy's name!