Ada

Ada developed from the root otruğ (a separated, cut-off place) in the ancient Turkic language and, over time, took the form adağ before becoming the modern word ada (island); its semantic development resembles the path taken by the Latin word insula (a separated place, island). The word was not borrowed from Arabic or Persian but is entirely of native Turkic origin, and it denotes a piece of dry land surrounded on all sides by water, standing in isolation.

Its use as a personal name began in Turkey in the last 15-20 years and is the result of interest in short, simply sounding modern names; from there it spread to Azerbaijan. Interestingly, in some older sources Ada is also given as the masculine short form of the name Adam, but in today's Azerbaijani practice it is an independent girl name derived from the word ada, and there is no religious obstacle to bearing it.