The name Nova comes from the Latin word novus, meaning "new." It can also be a space-inspired name linked to the word supernova, referring to a powerful and catastrophic explosion of a star. It was scarcely used in the early 1900s, but fell out of the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girl names in 1939. Nova made its return to the list in 2011 and has now been a top-55 girl's name every year since 2018. It's the name actors Diane Kruger and Norman Reedus gave their daughter Nova Tennessee, born in 2018.
