Primarily a girl's name · 94% girls
Origin: LatinNova is a unisex given name of Latin origin meaning "new". It is in regular use for both males and females. In the United States, the name has been in use since the 1800s.
From Wikipedia
In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Nova yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.
Nova's climb over the past decade, 344%, ranks among the largest in this batch, trailing only Enzo and Lainey. Both its count and rank reached fresh territory recently — 5,044 births in 2024, though its actual peak, 5,920, came two years earlier in 2022.
What's unusual here is the data history: first recorded in 1885, just five years into the dataset, meaning Nova has technically existed as a US name for well over a century despite reading as an entirely modern invention.
The enrichment data offers no famous bearers to explain any of this — the name's popularity, like Aurora's in an earlier batch, isn't traceable to any single documented figure.
Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.
→ See names similar to Nova · Compare Nova with another name → · Popular names of the 2020s · Girls names starting with N
Rank is among all girls' names registered that year.
| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1885 | 12 | #652 |
| 1886 | 7 | #966 |
| 1887 | 6 | #1,122 |
| 1888 | 15 | #683 |
| 1889 | 12 | #787 |
| 1890 | 15 | #711 |
| 1891 | 13 | #779 |
| 1892 | 20 | #659 |
| 1893 | 9 | #1,071 |
| 1894 | 18 | #714 |
| 1895 | 20 | #720 |
| 1896 | 24 | #647 |
| 1897 | 18 | #754 |
| 1898 | 30 | #594 |
| 1899 | 20 | #722 |
| 1900 | 29 | #670 |
| 1901 | 23 | #679 |
| 1902 | 18 | #838 |
| 1903 | 21 | #754 |
| 1904 | 24 | #722 |
| 1905 | 30 | #652 |
| 1906 | 27 | #712 |
| 1907 | 32 | #677 |
| 1908 | 36 | #643 |
| 1909 | 39 | #633 |
| 1910 | 32 | #764 |
| 1911 | 36 | #730 |
| 1912 | 54 | #685 |
| 1913 | 59 | #675 |
| 1914 | 47 | #863 |
| 1915 | 69 | #796 |
| 1916 | 81 | #765 |
| 1917 | 85 | #756 |
| 1918 | 79 | #805 |
| 1919 | 87 | #755 |
| 1920 | 111 | #693 |
| 1921 | 91 | #768 |
| 1922 | 86 | #788 |
| 1923 | 80 | #823 |
| 1924 | 89 | #790 |
| 1925 | 94 | #767 |
| 1926 | 75 | #859 |
| 1927 | 77 | #846 |
| 1928 | 84 | #783 |
| 1929 | 104 | #690 |
| 1930 | 75 | #821 |
| 1931 | 75 | #783 |
| 1932 | 73 | #799 |
| 1933 | 58 | #891 |
| 1934 | 78 | #762 |
| 1935 | 72 | #804 |
| 1936 | 56 | #920 |
| 1937 | 53 | #961 |
| 1938 | 68 | #860 |
| 1939 | 49 | #1,019 |
| 1940 | 44 | #1,094 |
| 1941 | 35 | #1,304 |
| 1942 | 42 | #1,243 |
| 1943 | 39 | #1,315 |
| 1944 | 29 | #1,537 |
| 1945 | 27 | #1,612 |
| 1946 | 33 | #1,550 |
| 1947 | 34 | #1,656 |
| 1948 | 44 | #1,400 |
| 1949 | 42 | #1,432 |
| 1950 | 29 | #1,787 |
| 1951 | 33 | #1,690 |
| 1952 | 33 | #1,736 |
| 1953 | 25 | #2,108 |
| 1954 | 27 | #2,060 |
| 1955 | 39 | #1,660 |
| 1956 | 31 | #1,960 |
| 1957 | 26 | #2,204 |
| 1958 | 19 | #2,729 |
| 1959 | 21 | #2,572 |
| 1960 | 34 | #1,970 |
| 1961 | 23 | #2,588 |
| 1962 | 50 | #1,604 |
| 1963 | 72 | #1,303 |
| 1964 | 50 | #1,627 |
| 1965 | 35 | #1,977 |
| 1966 | 38 | #1,873 |
| 1967 | 35 | #1,999 |
| 1968 | 29 | #2,276 |
| 1969 | 36 | #2,125 |
| 1970 | 51 | #1,772 |
| 1971 | 46 | #1,895 |
| 1972 | 58 | #1,585 |
| 1973 | 48 | #1,799 |
| 1974 | 53 | #1,721 |
| 1975 | 57 | #1,686 |
| 1976 | 65 | #1,559 |
| 1977 | 85 | #1,343 |
| 1978 | 56 | #1,817 |
| 1979 | 70 | #1,620 |
| 1980 | 66 | #1,717 |
| 1981 | 53 | #2,002 |
| 1982 | 50 | #2,072 |
| 1983 | 36 | #2,542 |
| 1984 | 36 | #2,607 |
| 1985 | 38 | #2,579 |
| 1986 | 26 | #3,431 |
| 1987 | 20 | #4,233 |
| 1988 | 19 | #4,609 |
| 1989 | 16 | #5,478 |
| 1990 | 25 | #4,085 |
| 1991 | 20 | #4,945 |
| 1992 | 11 | #7,875 |
| 1993 | 21 | #4,759 |
| 1994 | 19 | #5,178 |
| 1995 | 22 | #4,638 |
| 1996 | 24 | #4,423 |
| 1997 | 38 | #3,137 |
| 1998 | 54 | #2,557 |
| 1999 | 55 | #2,597 |
| 2000 | 66 | #2,362 |
| 2001 | 86 | #1,992 |
| 2002 | 91 | #1,951 |
| 2003 | 99 | #1,870 |
| 2004 | 114 | #1,710 |
| 2005 | 103 | #1,889 |
| 2006 | 106 | #1,915 |
| 2007 | 147 | #1,553 |
| 2008 | 176 | #1,372 |
| 2009 | 231 | #1,105 |
| 2010 | 218 | #1,129 |
| 2011 | 295 | #886 |
| 2012 | 463 | #618 |
| 2013 | 567 | #527 |
| 2014 | 1,136 | #287 |
| 2015 | 1,528 | #214 |
| 2016 | 2,285 | #136 |
| 2017 | 3,054 | #94 |
| 2018 | 4,174 | #55 |
| 2019 | 4,329 | #51 |
| 2020 | 5,005 | #38 |
| 2021 | 5,565 | #32 |
| 2022 | 5,920 | #32 |
| 2023 | 5,274 | #35 |
| 2024 | 5,044 | #39 |
