Latin novus, "new"; a nova is an exploding star — new. Almost unused before 2011, then one of the fastest climbers of the decade.
Nova ranks 46th among American girls in 2025, with 4,806 born that year. Its best year was 2022, when 6,198 babies were given the name, ranking 32nd. The typical living American called Nova is about 6 years old today. It is relatively most common in Delaware, where it accounts for 0.40% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.