Ada

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A female given name often used in English-speaking countries ; a high-level computer programming language designed for safety and reliability ; a city in Nigeria known for commerce and industry
2. Used as a personal name for women ; describes an efficient, strongly typed programming language created for defense systems ; refers to an urban area in southwestern Nigeria
3. Commonly applied as a woman's first name ; names a structured programming language formulated for mission-critical applications ; denotes a significant Nigerian municipality

Etymology: Ada is a female given name whose story runs through two separate roots that happen to converge on one short form. One line leads back to Germanic names beginning with "adal", meaning "noble", the element found in Adelaide and similar names. Ada works as a short form of those names, so a name that began as a claim of high birth was shortened into something quick and easy to say. The other line comes from the Hebrew name Adah, which appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name of one of Lamech's wives. Latinized, it gave the same sound, and so the name now carries both a Germanic and a biblical inheritance at once. Most readers know the name best from Ada Lovelace, the mathematician and daughter of the poet Lord Byron, whose notes on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine are often considered among the first published descriptions of a computer program. The programming language Ada was named in her honour, which means that a name first meaning "noble" is now also attached to a piece of computing history.