Humanverse

Nova vs Novalynn

American parents have registered 59,010 Novas since 1880, against 865 Novalynns. Nova is still ahead, with 4,806 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Nova against Novalynn, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Nova Novalynn

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Nova has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2025, when Nova had 4,806 and Novalynn had 116.

Side by side

  Nova Novalynn
Total US births 59,010865
Most in one year 6,198116
Babies in 2025 4,806116
Estimated living today 56,000860
Median age today 54
Peak year 20222025
Best rank 32nd girls1,747th girls
Rank in 2025 46th1,747th
First recorded 18802011
Girls / boys 55,783 / 3,227865 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Nova and Novalynn.