What's in a name?

We had it picked out before we found out that Josiah was boy. This is actually how we knew Josiah would be a boy, because we could only agree on a girl name:

Ava Grace

When we found out we were having a girl this time, we were relieved to know we already had her name ready to go (even though we also agreed on a boy name if it were a boy again). Truth be told, I had started calling her Ava before it was confirmed that she was a girl. And so did Josiah.

My belly started growing and Josiah started learning about this new little person that would be joining our family. He quickly started including her in EVERYTHING. "Mommy, daddy, yiya (what he calls himself) and baby Avya go to baseball game". He had this thing with Ryan where they would YELL all of our names, and when he said Ava, it came out "A-ve-ya"

Like most parents do, we start using the words our kids use...

Thank you was "taint too"

Please is "pease"

Cars are "tars"

Goofy is "Doofy"

and Ava was "A-ve-yah"

After a couple months of us now referring to her with this crazy name, and a couple months of us hearing "Oh Ava is such a pretty name, my cousins name is that...and a little girl in my class...and my friends little girl"

We decided it had stuck. Her name has changed. While it sounds like it should be spelled "Avia", Ryan and I agreed that we didn't like the "i" and we like "y's" better. We think our preference in specific letters comes from playing Scrabble. 

Avya Grace

My dad told me that meant she was a bird. So I was intrigued to find the meaning of this name. 

babynames.com - "We're sorry, there are no name matches for AVYA"

babynamewizard.com  - "Namipedia has no entry for Avya"

Now when I searched for this back in April, it did not come up. Avya is now on babycenter.com, but with no meaning or origin.

I finally found the origin of the name Avia. Although I think it might be pronounced slightly different, it was the closest thing I could find.

The meaning?

God is my Father

OR

A Child of God

Plus this means that her 18 month old brother named her, and what's cooler than that?