How popular is the baby name Nova in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Nova.

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Popularity of the baby name Nova


Posts that mention the name Nova

Popular baby names in Virginia, 2023

Flag of Virginia
Flag of Virginia

Last year, the Commonwealth of Virginia — which is home to more than 8.7 million people — welcomed roughly 95,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Charlotte and Liam, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Vital Records.

Here are Virginia’s top 15 girl names and top 15 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Charlotte
  2. Emma
  3. Olivia*
  4. Sophia
  5. Amelia
  6. Evelyn
  7. Ava
  8. Isabella
  9. Elizabeth
  10. Mia
  11. Eleanor
  12. Harper
  13. Sofia
  14. Luna
  15. Abigail

*In the press release, Olivia was spelled “Oliva.” I’m assuming this was a typo.

Boy names

  1. Liam
  2. Noah
  3. James
  4. Oliver
  5. William
  6. Lucas
  7. Henry
  8. Theodore
  9. Benjamin
  10. Levi
  11. Elijah
  12. Luke
  13. John
  14. Michael
  15. Gabriel

The state also revealed the top names among the state’ four largest ethnic groups: White, Black, Hispanic and Asian. (According to the most recent CDC data, from 2021, 54.3% of Virginia’s babies were born to non-Hispanic White mothers, 20.0% to Black mothers, 15.7% to Hispanic mothers, and 7.3% to Asian mothers.)

These were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s White babies:

Girl names, WhiteBoy names, White
1. Charlotte
2. Olivia
3. Emma
4. Amelia
5. Sophia
1. James
2. William
3. Oliver
4. Henry
5. Liam

These were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s Black babies:

Girl names, BlackBoy names, Black
1. Ava
2. Naomi
3. Nova
4. Serenity
5. Autumn
1. Noah
2. Amir
3. Josiah
4. Elijah
5. Legend

These were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s Hispanic babies:

Girl names, HispanicBoy names, Hispanic
1. Mia
2. Camila*
3. Genesis*
4. Isabella
5. Sofia
1. Liam
2. Mateo
3. Dylan
4. Thiago
5. Lucas

*In the press release, Camila and Genesis were spelled “Camilla” and “Genisis.” I’m assuming these were typos as well.

And, finally, these were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s Asian babies:

Girl names, AsianBoy names, Asian
1. Olivia
2. Ava
3. Sophia
4. Sophie
5. Charlotte
1. Noah
2. Lucas
3. Muhammad
4. Ethan
5. Alexander

Here’s a link to Virginia’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Virginia (public domain)

Popular baby names in the Netherlands, 2023

Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands

Last year, from January to November, the Netherlands welcomed 164,269 babies — 80,074 girls and 84,195 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Julia and Noah.

Here are the Netherlands’ top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Julia, 681 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 605
  3. Mila, 603
  4. Emma, 596
  5. Sophie, 578
  6. Nora, 543
  7. Yara, 493
  8. Saar, 491
  9. Noor, 488
  10. Tess, 478
  11. Sara, 469
  12. Milou, 449
  13. Evi, 446
  14. Zoë, 441
  15. Luna, 428
  16. Liv, 425
  17. Elin, 423
  18. Anna, 421
  19. Nina, 405
  20. Maeve, 403
  21. Lina, 392
  22. Lauren, 391
  23. Lotte, 380
  24. Eva, 372
  25. Mia, 368
  26. Maud, 360
  27. Sofia, 357
  28. Sarah, 353
  29. Emily, 344
  30. Lynn, 333
  31. Sofie, 328
  32. Ella, 325
  33. Loïs, 324
  34. Livia, 318
  35. Hailey, 310
  36. Fleur, 309
  37. Lieke, 306
  38. Julie, 301
  39. Isa, 300
  40. Nova, 299
  41. Fenna, 296
  42. Noa, 291
  43. Roos, 275
  44. Noé, 266
  45. Sophia, 259
  46. Lily, 253
  47. Romée, 251
  48. Hannah, 246
  49. Fien, 242
  50. Bo, 238

Boy names

  1. Noah, 888 baby boys
  2. Luca, 674
  3. Lucas, 648
  4. Liam, 643
  5. Levi, 601
  6. Sem, 587
  7. Daan, 573
  8. Mees, 571
  9. Noud, 567
  10. James, 561
  11. Milan, 534
  12. Adam, 532
  13. Finn, 527
  14. Sam, 521
  15. Zayn, 495
  16. Luuk, 489
  17. Mason, 432
  18. Bram, 420
  19. Mats, 397
  20. Guus, 372
  21. Siem, 366
  22. Boaz, 360
  23. Benjamin, 356 (tie)
  24. Gijs, 356 (tie)
  25. Jesse, 353
  26. Thomas, 333
  27. Olivier, 331
  28. Otis, 324
  29. Teun, 320
  30. Owen, 310
  31. Oliver, 305 (tie)
  32. Thijs, 305 (tie)
  33. Morris, 304
  34. Moos, 303
  35. Jens, 299
  36. Floris, 298
  37. Joep, 294
  38. Jan, 289
  39. Ties, 286
  40. Mick, 282
  41. Max, 279
  42. Abel, 276
  43. Jake, 275
  44. David, 273 (tie)
  45. Tobias, 273 (tie)
  46. Julian, 270
  47. Jip, 266
  48. Lars, 264
  49. Hugo, 260
  50. Mohammed, 255

The girls’ top 100 included Juna (tied for 59th), Lizzy (tied for 71st), Loua (76th), and Novi (tied for 88th).

The boys’ top 100 included Jurre (tied for 52nd), Fedde (59th), Aiden (74th), and Cas (96th).

Map of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands
The Netherlands’ 12 provinces

Home to nearly 18 million people, the Netherlands is divided into 12 provinces. The most popular baby names within each of the 12 provinces last year were…

Top girl nameTop boy name
South Holland
(21.4% of the population)
OliviaNoah
North Holland
(16.6% of pop.)
OliviaNoah
North Brabant
(14.7% of pop.)
SaarNoud
Gelderland
(12.0% of pop.)
JuliaNoah
Utrecht
(7.8% of pop.)
NoraLucas
Overijssel
(6.6% of pop.)
JuliaLuca
Limburg
(6.3% of pop.)
EmmaNoah
Friesland
(3.7% of pop.)
LiekeHidde
Groningen
(3.3% of pop.)
ElinNoah
Drenthe
(2.8% of pop.)
LotteDaan
Flevoland
(2.5% of pop.)
HaileyJan
Zeeland
(2.2% of pop.)
OliviaLucas

Finally, here are the Netherlands’ 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Kindernamen home | Kindernamen | SVB, Julia en Noah de populairste kindernamen van 2023, Regionale kerncijfers Nederland – CBS StatLine

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of the Netherlands by Arz under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Top baby names of 2023 in several U.S. states (provisional)

peeking nun

Want to take a peek into the future?

The year isn’t over yet, but that hasn’t stopped several regional governments from releasing provisional baby name rankings for 2023.

At least four U.S. states and one U.S. city have put out their top baby names of 2023 already, for instance. Let’s check them out, starting in the east and moving westward…

Rhode Island

According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, Rhode IslandTop boy names, Rhode Island
1. Charlotte
2. Sophia
3. Olivia
4. Amelia
5. Emma
6. Nora
7. Luna
8. Isabella
9. Mia
10. Isla
1. Noah
2. Liam
3. James
4. Theodore
5. Lucas
6. Michael
7. Julian
8. Benjamin
9. Henry
10. Luca

Mississippi

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, MississippiTop boy names, Mississippi
1. Ava
2. Amelia
3. Olivia
4. Charlotte
5. Harper
6. Elizabeth
7. Emma
8. Mary
9. Nova
10. Evelyn
1. John
2. James
3. William
4. Elijah
5. Noah
6. Liam
7. Waylon
8. Mason
9. Grayson
10. Asher

Houston (Texas)

According to the Houston Health Department, these were the city’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, City of HoustonTop boy names, City of Houston
1. Emma
2. Mia
3. Camila
4. Olivia
5. Isabella
6. Sofia
7. Sophia
8. Amelia
9. Charlotte
10. Emily
1. Liam
2. Noah
3. Mateo
4. Santiago
5. Sebastian
6. Dylan
7. Elijah
8. Lucas
9. Oliver
10. Daniel

New Mexico

According to the New Mexico Department of Health, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, New MexicoTop boy names, New Mexico
1. Olivia
2. Amelia
3. Isabella
4. Emma
5. Sofia
6. Mia
7. Sophia
8. Aria
9. Luna
10. Camila
1. Liam
2. Mateo
3. Noah
4. Santiago
5. Ezekiel
6. Elijah
7. Josiah
8. Sebastian
9. Ezra
10. Julian

Arizona

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, these were the state’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023.

Top girl names, ArizonaTop boy names, Arizona
1. Olivia
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Mia
5. Camila
6. Sophia
7. Amelia
8. Charlotte
9. Evelyn
10. Luna
1. Liam
2. Mateo
3. Noah
4. Oliver
5. Santiago
6. Elijah
7. Sebastian
8. Ezra
9. Levi
10. Benjamin

Several regions outside the U.S. have also released their 2023 baby name rankings already. Here’s what I’ve spotted so far…

RegionTop names
British Columbia (Canada)Olivia & Noah
New Brunswick (Canada)Olivia & Liam
Nova Scotia (Canada)Olivia & Henry
P.E.I. (Canada)Sadie/Sophie & Jack
ACT/Canberra (Australia)Amelia/Charlotte & Henry
South Australia (Australia)Isla & Oliver
Western Australia (Australia)Isla & Oliver

Have you seen any others?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from A trompe l’œil with a young nun peeking out through a shutter (public domain)

Which girl names are the most Canadian?

Lake Louise, Canada

A couple of weeks ago, Rachel asked a great question: “I wonder which names are the most Canadian? That is, which have the greatest popularity differentials between Canada and the US?”

In this post and the next, we’ll try to come up with lists of both the “most Canadian” and the “most American” baby names using two different methods.

First, we’ll look at the most popular names that appeared in only one set of data (either Canada or the U.S.) in 2022.

Second, we’ll look at the names that appeared in both sets of data, focusing on how proportionally popular each name was in each place. For the girl names below, I calculated the proportions by dividing each name’s U.S. usage by the total number of girls born in the U.S. last year (1,784,437) and each name’s Canadian usage by the total number of girls born Canada last year (170,916).

Top Canada-only girl names

The 2022 Canadian data included 270 girl names that were not in the U.S. data. Below are the 10+ most popular Canada-only girl names.

Number of girls (Can.)Rank (Can.)
1. Flavie184141st
2. Ophelie169153rd
3. Romane114254th
4. Lea-Rose59484th
5. Lauralie57493rd
6. Sifat47582nd
7. Morgane42649th
8. Louane41666th
9. Leane37725th
10. Megane36 (tie)740th (tie)
11. Oceanne36 (tie)740th (tie)

Most of these are French, of course, and the usage was primarily in Quebec:

  • Flavie: 182 of 184 born in Quebec
  • Ophelie: 163 of 169
  • Romane: 114 of 114 (all)
  • Lea-Rose: 54 of 59
  • Lauralie: 55 of 57
  • Morgane: 41 of 42
  • Louane: 41 of 41 (all)
  • Leane: 35 of 37
  • Megane: 35 of 36
  • Oceanne: 31 of 36

The name Sifat, on the other hand, was not used in Quebec at all.

Girl names particularly popular in Canada

Now let’s look at the more than 3,340 girl names that appeared in both sets of data. Of the girl names used more frequently in Canada than in the U.S., the 10 below had the largest pro-Canada differentials. (I added the rankings for both countries as well.)

Differential (Pro-Can.)Rank (Can.)Rank (U.S.)
1. Florence0.2994%35th622nd
2. Charlie0.2794%18th123rd
3. Alice0.2638%11th64th
4. Chloe0.2573%6th18th
5. Livia0.2446%44th890th
6. Lea0.2338%49th785th
7. Sophie0.2198%16th63rd
8. Clara0.2192%24th110th
9. Rose0.2153%28th120th
10. Romy0.1981%67th1,355th

Top U.S.-only girl names

The 2022 U.S. data included 14,319 girl names that were not in the Canadian data. Below are the 10 most popular U.S.-only girl names.

Number of girls (U.S.)Rank (U.S.)
1. Malani789395th
2. Daleyza745423rd
3. Emely701 446th
4. Fernanda688458th
5. Yaretzi641489th
6. Jimena636493rd
7. Alondra615 509th
8. Anahi533565th
9. Jayleen488607th
10. Melany473623rd

Similar to the way the Canada-only list featured names used by French speakers, this U.S.-only list includes quite a few names used by Spanish speakers.

Girl names particularly popular in the U.S.

Now back to the names that both countries had in common. Of the girl names used more frequently in the U.S. than in Canada, the 10 below had the largest pro-U.S. differentials. (And, again, I added the rankings.)

Differential (Pro-U.S.)Rank (U.S.)Rank (Can.)
1. Camila0.3533%12th163rd
2. Isabella0.2697%6th22nd
3. Gianna0.2151%22nd97th
4. Leilani0.1915%59th684th
5. Genesis0.1763%65th937th
6. Luna0.1636%10th31st
7. Caroline0.1385%77th529th
8. Nova0.1315%32nd71st
9. Harper0.1314%11th34th
10. Serenity0.1239%96th513th

Of course, this analysis is necessarily a bit lopsided: Canada has fewer people than the U.S. does, and also releases a relatively limited set of baby name data.

Still, it’s fun to see the results. :)

What are your thoughts on the names above?

Sources:

Image by Redd F from Unsplash