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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Bavvai
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Bavvai 
The name Bavvai (by some translations transliterated as Bavai) occurs only once in the Bible. Bavvai, son of Henadad, is a contemporary of Nehemiah and Ezra and chief of the repair men who work on half of the district of Keilah in Judah during the post-exilic restoration (Nehemiah 3:18). Bavvai is either also known as Benui, or else Benui is Bavvai's brother (assuming that there are not two fathers called Henadad, which is of course also possible - Nehemiah 3:24).
The name Bavvai is probably of Persian origin, says Alfred Jones - Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names - who nevertheless proposes the following Hebrew etymology. Jones says that the name Bavvai starts out with the common particle beth, meaning in or by. The middle part is formed from the verb  (awa), meaning to desire, wish or covet. And the final yod, according to Jones, is a remnant of  , Jah, which in turn is an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton; the name of the Lord: YHWH.
Altogether Alfred Jones translates the name Bavvai into With The Desire Of The Lord. NOBS Study Bible Name List seems to at least partially agree with Jones and reads Wisher. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate and proposes that the name Bavvai is a mis-rendering of the name Benui.
Other names that may have to do with the verb awa are
Aiah,
Evi,
Evil-merodach,
Ithamar and perhaps Ophir.
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