Meaning not yet researched.
Nova: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 4,657 in 2025. Its best rank was #32 in 2022.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #32 in 2022; #46 in 2025. About 97% of babies named Nova in 2025 were girls.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#46 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 2022, at #32.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Nova: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 4,657 girls in 2025. Peak: #32 in 2022 · most girls in one year: 5,927 (2022).
In 2025, 4,657 US girls were named Nova, making it the 46th most common girls’ name of the year, down 7 places from #39 in 2024. That is 415 fewer than the 5,072 girls named Nova in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #32, reached in 2022. That year also had the most girls given the name: 5,927. For comparison, it was #213 in 2015 and #1,787 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Nova in 142 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1880 with 5 babies. In all, 59,010 US babies have been given the name, 95% of them girls and 5.5% boys. Its busiest decade was the 2020s, with 32,945 babies named Nova.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 45,367 US girls were named Nova; the busiest of those years was 2022, with 5,927. In 2025 that was about 1 in 345 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Nova ranked highest in Mississippi in 2025, at #9 for girls there. It was in the top 100 in 47 states (counting DC). Related spellings in the SSA files include Novah (3,983 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Novaa, Novaya and Novae are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in Latin. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Novaa (79), Novaya (44), Novae (16), Novaeh (15), Novva (5).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Nova in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US girls. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five girls got the name, so 2 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 65 | #9 | #475 |
| Louisiana | 104 | #12 | #310 |
| Delaware | 21 | #16 | #174 |
| Arkansas | 62 | #18 | #307 |
| Georgia | 212 | #19 | #269 |
| Alabama | 107 | #19 | #265 |
| Oklahoma | 86 | #19 | #246 |
| Hawaii | 18 | #21 | #286 |
| South Carolina | 91 | #22 | #260 |
| Missouri | 123 | #23 | #132 |
| South Dakota | 22 | #24 | #123 |
| West Virginia | 35 | #25 | #132 |
| Montana | 19 | #28 | #205 |
| Ohio | 217 | #28 | #157 |
| Indiana | 121 | #29 | #143 |
| North Carolina | 203 | #29 | #169 |
| Tennessee | 149 | #29 | #217 |
| Nevada | 48 | #29 | #143 |
| Kentucky | 86 | #30 | #186 |
| Iowa | 58 | #30 | #145 |
| New Mexico | 26 | #32 | — |
| Michigan | 156 | #32 | #135 |
| Alaska | 13 | #34 | #168 |
| Wisconsin | 89 | #35 | #141 |
| Florida | 319 | #39 | #234 |
| Maryland | 80 | #40 | #289 |
| Pennsylvania | 179 | #40 | #229 |
| District of Columbia | 14 | #41 | — |
| Oregon | 53 | #44 | #107 |
| Idaho | 35 | #45 | #306 |
| Arizona | 99 | #49 | #258 |
| Utah | 67 | #53 | #361 |
| Virginia | 105 | #54 | #352 |
| Nebraska | 29 | #55 | #161 |
| Illinois | 135 | #57 | #231 |
| Connecticut | 42 | #60 | #389 |
| Kansas | 42 | #61 | #163 |
| Texas | 416 | #61 | #261 |
| Washington | 87 | #65 | #152 |
| Colorado | 70 | #66 | #252 |
| New Jersey | 101 | #69 | #349 |
| Maine | 14 | #70 | #211 |
| New York | 170 | #80 | #289 |
| New Hampshire | 15 | #80 | #144 |
| Minnesota | 60 | #82 | #264 |
| North Dakota | 11 | #86 | #107 |
| California | 326 | #93 | #254 |
| Rhode Island | 7 | #141 | — |
| Massachusetts | 40 | #141 | #250 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4,657 | #46 | 149 | #1,308 |
| 2024 | 5,072 | #39 | 176 | #1,179 |
| 2023 | 5,282 | #35 | 237 | #954 |
| 2022 | 5,927 | #32 | 271 | #879 |
| 2021 | 5,574 | #32 | 277 | #851 |
| 2020 | 5,006 | #38 | 317 | #758 |
| 2019 | 4,332 | #51 | 259 | #857 |
| 2018 | 4,174 | #55 | 254 | #866 |
| 2017 | 3,057 | #94 | 230 | #921 |
| 2016 | 2,286 | #136 | 152 | #1,232 |
| 2015 | 1,529 | #213 | 129 | #1,356 |
| 2014 | 1,136 | #287 | 104 | #1,545 |
| 2013 | 567 | #527 | 79 | #1,824 |
| 2012 | 463 | #618 | 63 | #2,148 |
| 2011 | 295 | #886 | 41 | #2,887 |
| 2010 | 218 | #1,129 | 37 | #3,118 |
| 2009 | 231 | #1,105 | 42 | #2,882 |
| 2008 | 178 | #1,365 | 28 | #3,806 |
| 2007 | 147 | #1,553 | 23 | #4,327 |
| 2006 | 106 | #1,916 | 23 | #4,187 |
| 2005 | 103 | #1,889 | 21 | #4,294 |
| 2004 | 114 | #1,710 | 22 | #4,097 |
| 2003 | 99 | #1,870 | 13 | #5,788 |
| 2002 | 91 | #1,951 | 13 | #5,640 |
| 2001 | 86 | #1,992 | 19 | #4,244 |
| 2000 | 66 | #2,362 | 8 | #7,976 |
| 1999 | 55 | #2,597 | 10 | #6,374 |
| 1998 | 54 | #2,557 | 9 | #6,686 |
| 1997 | 38 | #3,137 | 10 | #5,970 |
| 1996 | 24 | #4,423 | 5 | #10,094 |
| 1995 | 22 | #4,638 | — | — |
| 1994 | 19 | #5,178 | — | — |
| 1993 | 21 | #4,759 | — | — |
| 1992 | 11 | #7,874 | — | — |
| 1991 | 20 | #4,945 | — | — |
| 1990 | 25 | #4,085 | 5 | #9,102 |
| 1989 | 16 | #5,478 | 6 | #7,642 |
| 1988 | 19 | #4,610 | — | — |
| 1987 | 20 | #4,233 | — | — |
| 1986 | 26 | #3,431 | — | — |
| 1985 | 38 | #2,579 | — | — |
| 1984 | 36 | #2,608 | — | — |
| 1983 | 36 | #2,541 | — | — |
| 1982 | 50 | #2,072 | 7 | #5,442 |
| 1981 | 53 | #2,002 | — | — |
| 1980 | 66 | #1,716 | 5 | #6,984 |
| 1979 | 70 | #1,620 | 6 | #5,848 |
| 1978 | 56 | #1,817 | — | — |
| 1977 | 85 | #1,343 | — | — |
| 1976 | 65 | #1,559 | 5 | #6,215 |
| 1975 | 57 | #1,686 | — | — |
| 1974 | 53 | #1,721 | 6 | #5,064 |
| 1973 | 48 | #1,799 | — | — |
| 1972 | 58 | #1,585 | — | — |
| 1971 | 46 | #1,897 | 6 | #4,760 |
| 1970 | 51 | #1,773 | — | — |
| 1969 | 36 | #2,125 | — | — |
| 1968 | 29 | #2,276 | — | — |
| 1967 | 35 | #1,998 | — | — |
| 1966 | 38 | #1,873 | — | — |
| 1965 | 35 | #1,977 | — | — |
| 1964 | 50 | #1,626 | — | — |
| 1963 | 72 | #1,303 | — | — |
| 1962 | 50 | #1,603 | — | — |
| 1961 | 23 | #2,589 | — | — |
| 1960 | 34 | #1,970 | — | — |
| 1959 | 21 | #2,571 | — | — |
| 1958 | 19 | #2,728 | — | — |
| 1957 | 26 | #2,204 | 6 | #3,853 |
| 1956 | 31 | #1,960 | — | — |
| 1955 | 39 | #1,660 | — | — |
| 1954 | 27 | #2,061 | — | — |
| 1953 | 25 | #2,109 | — | — |
| 1952 | 33 | #1,736 | — | — |
| 1951 | 33 | #1,690 | — | — |
| 1950 | 29 | #1,787 | — | — |
| 1949 | 42 | #1,432 | — | — |
| 1948 | 44 | #1,400 | 5 | #4,037 |
| 1947 | 34 | #1,656 | — | — |
| 1946 | 33 | #1,550 | 5 | #3,875 |
| 1945 | 27 | #1,612 | — | — |
| 1944 | 29 | #1,537 | — | — |
| 1943 | 39 | #1,315 | 8 | #2,897 |
| 1942 | 42 | #1,243 | 6 | #3,456 |
| 1941 | 35 | #1,304 | — | — |
| 1940 | 44 | #1,094 | — | — |
| 1939 | 49 | #1,019 | — | — |
| 1938 | 68 | #860 | 6 | #3,420 |
| 1937 | 53 | #961 | 7 | #3,096 |
| 1936 | 56 | #920 | — | — |
| 1935 | 72 | #804 | — | — |
| 1934 | 78 | #762 | — | — |
| 1933 | 58 | #891 | — | — |
| 1932 | 73 | #799 | — | — |
| 1931 | 75 | #783 | 7 | #3,312 |
| 1930 | 75 | #821 | 5 | #4,391 |
| 1929 | 104 | #690 | 5 | #4,378 |
| 1928 | 84 | #783 | — | — |
| 1927 | 77 | #846 | — | — |
| 1926 | 75 | #859 | 5 | #4,641 |
| 1925 | 94 | #767 | 6 | #4,067 |
| 1924 | 89 | #790 | 12 | #2,582 |
| 1923 | 80 | #823 | 5 | #4,707 |
| 1922 | 86 | #788 | 11 | #2,756 |
| 1921 | 91 | #768 | 5 | #4,791 |
| 1920 | 111 | #693 | 12 | #2,559 |
| 1919 | 87 | #755 | 9 | #3,051 |
| 1918 | 79 | #805 | — | — |
| 1917 | 85 | #756 | 5 | #4,402 |
| 1916 | 81 | #765 | 7 | #3,409 |
| 1915 | 69 | #796 | 8 | #2,992 |
| 1914 | 47 | #863 | — | — |
| 1913 | 59 | #675 | 5 | #3,125 |
| 1912 | 54 | #685 | — | — |
| 1911 | 36 | #730 | 5 | #1,930 |
| 1910 | 32 | #764 | — | — |
| 1909 | 39 | #633 | — | — |
| 1908 | 36 | #643 | — | — |
| 1907 | 32 | #677 | — | — |
| 1906 | 27 | #712 | — | — |
| 1905 | 30 | #652 | — | — |
| 1904 | 24 | #722 | — | — |
| 1903 | 21 | #754 | — | — |
| 1902 | 18 | #838 | — | — |
| 1901 | 23 | #679 | — | — |
| 1900 | 29 | #670 | — | — |
| 1899 | 20 | #722 | — | — |
| 1898 | 30 | #594 | — | — |
| 1897 | 18 | #754 | — | — |
| 1896 | 24 | #647 | — | — |
| 1895 | 20 | #720 | — | — |
| 1894 | 18 | #714 | — | — |
| 1893 | 9 | #1,071 | — | — |
| 1892 | 20 | #659 | — | — |
| 1891 | 13 | #779 | — | — |
| 1890 | 15 | #711 | — | — |
| 1889 | 12 | #787 | — | — |
| 1888 | 15 | #683 | — | — |
| 1887 | 6 | #1,122 | — | — |
| 1886 | 7 | #966 | — | — |
| 1885 | 12 | #652 | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — | 5 | #1,024 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).