By Pamela Redmond Satran

　　Everybody loves the letter A.

　　A is the most common first initial for baby names today.  Many of the most popular baby names start with A, including Ava, Abigail, and Amelia for girls, and Alexander, Andrew, and the Aiden constellation for boys.  And then there are all the fast-rising names that begin with A, from the Game of Thrones-inspired Arya to the biblical Asher to the hot celebrity names Anson and Azalea.

　　Why is A so favored?  The fact that it’s first may have something to do with giving it an image of primacy and importance.  And then there are the studies that say people whose names begin with A are more likely to earn As in school and may even live longer.

　　That makes a lot of good reasons to want to choose an A name for your baby.  But what are the best A names that are not overused or on their way to becoming too popular?

　　We combed the nearly 3500 unusual baby names that start with A on Nameberry to find the best choices below the Top 1000.  Here, our 100 favorites:

　　[column1]

　　girls

　　Abelia

　　Acacia

　　Adair

　　Adelia

　　Afra

　　Ailsa

　　Alabama

　　Alberta or Albertine

　　Aleela

　　Alitia

　　Alpha

　　Amabel

　　Amalia

　　Amandine

　　Amaryllis

　　Ambrosia

　　Amethyst

　　Aminta

　　Amity

　　Amoris

　　Anais

　　Anara

　　Anatalya

　　Aniceta

　　Anina

　　Annik

　　Anouk

　　Anthea

　　Antonia

　　Anwen

　　Apollonia

　　Araminta

　　Aravis

　　Arcadia

　　Arden

　　Ariadne

　　Arizona

　　Artemis

　　Asa

　　Ashira

　　Asteria

　　Astrid

　　Atalia

　　Audra

　　Augusta

　　Avalon

　　Aviana

　　Aviva

　　Avril

　　Aya

　　Aziza

　　Azure

　　[/column1]

　　[column2]

　　boys

　　Abbot

　　Abelard

　　Abner

　　Adlai

　　Ahmet

　　Ajani

　　Alaric

　　Albin

　　Alcott

　　Aldous

　　Aleph

　　Alessio

　　Alexi

　　Alistair

　　Aloysius

　　Amadeus

　　Amadi

　　Ambrose

　　Amias or Amyas

　　Amory

　　Amos

　　Anatole

　　Ansel

　　Anselm

　　Anton

　　Apollo

　　Ara

　　Aram

　　Arc

　　Arden

　　Aries

　　Arlo

　　Arsenio

　　Art

　　Aston

　　Atlas

　　Auberon

　　Aubin

　　Auden

　　Augusten or Augustin

　　Aurelius

　　Austen

　　Averill

　　Axton

　　Azariah or Azarias

　　[/column2]

　　What are your favorite A names, either on this list or off it?