Head to head · Girls' names
Emilia vs Nova
#45 vs #46 in 2025
Emilia is a whisker ahead (#45 vs #46 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Emilia is holding its place on the charts, Nova is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Emilia leads 4 measures of 6; Nova leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Emilia #601, Nova #796 — Emilia higher
- 1890s: Emilia #605, Nova #716 — Emilia higher
- 1900s: Emilia #571, Nova #686 — Emilia higher
- 1910s: Emilia #635, Nova #754 — Emilia higher
- 1920s: Emilia #660, Nova #778 — Emilia higher
- 1930s: Emilia #776, Nova #856 — Emilia higher
- 1940s: Emilia #976, Nova #1400 — Emilia higher
- 1950s: Emilia #1216, Nova #2016 — Emilia higher
- 1960s: Emilia #1304, Nova #1914 — Emilia higher
- 1970s: Emilia #1452, Nova #1668 — Emilia higher
- 1980s: Emilia #1088, Nova #3064 — Emilia higher
- 1990s: Emilia #900, Nova #4304 — Emilia higher
- 2000s: Emilia #484, Nova #1760 — Emilia higher
- 2010s: Emilia #174, Nova #399 — Emilia higher
- 2020s: Emilia #43, Nova #37 — Nova higher
Emilia stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Nova took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Emilia | Nova |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #601 | #796 |
| 1890s | #605 | #716 |
| 1900s | #571 | #686 |
| 1910s | #635 | #754 |
| 1920s | #660 | #778 |
| 1930s | #776 | #856 |
| 1940s | #976 | #1400 |
| 1950s | #1216 | #2016 |
| 1960s | #1304 | #1914 |
| 1970s | #1452 | #1668 |
| 1980s | #1088 | #3064 |
| 1990s | #900 | #4304 |
| 2000s | #484 | #1760 |
| 2010s | #174 | #399 |
| 2020s | #43 | #37 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Emilia
- Canada#40
- England & Wales#45
- Scotland#62
Nova
- Scotland#74
- Canada#79
- England & Wales#80
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Emilia
Traditionally linked to Latin aemulus, "rival" or "striving to equal"
Emilia is the feminine of the Roman family name Aemilius. The usual reading connects it to Latin aemulus, "rival, emulating." But Roman family names of that age often came from Etruscan, and a good number of scholars treat Aemilius as one of those — old, inherited, and not translatable. Worth knowing too that Emilia and Amelia are not the same name at root: Amelia descends from Germanic Amalia, from amal, "work." The two have blurred together in English, but they arrived from different directions.
Aemilius → Aemilia → Emilia → Emily
How it traveled
The name begins as Aemilia, the feminine of Aemilius, one of the patrician family names of the Roman Republic. In the second century BC an Aemilius laid the great road north from Rimini, and the region of Emilia-Romagna carries that name to this day.
Nova
"New" (Latin); also, in astronomy, a star that suddenly brightens
Nova is the feminine form of the Latin adjective novus, "new." The star sense comes from the same word and is the reason most English speakers recognize it.
novus (Latin, "new") → nova (feminine form) → stella nova ("new star") → Nova
How it traveled
" The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe fixed it in scientific language with De nova stella, his 1573 account of the brilliant star that had appeared in Cassiopeia the previous year; later astronomers clipped stella nova down to nova, and it has meant a suddenly bright star ever since. The same adjective named Nova Scotia — New Scotland — when the Latin grant was made in 1621.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Emilia
eh-MEE-lee-uh
Four syllables, stress on the second. Many American speakers say uh-MEE-lee-uh, which sounds almost identical to Amelia. In Italian and Spanish the ending compresses to eh-MEE-lyah, and Polish speakers say it much the same way.
- Emi — Informal and the most direct shortening; also spelled Emmy or Emmie.
- Mila — Taken from the middle of the name; widely used as an independent given name in its own right.
- Emma — Used informally within families, though it is a separate, long-established given name elsewhere.
- Millie — Informal; shared with Amelia, Camilla and Millicent, so it does not point back to one full name.
- Also Lia.
Nova
NOH-vuh
Stress on the first syllable. In Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking households the final vowel is usually fuller: NOH-vah.
- Novie — Informal, family-level affectionate form; also spelled Novi.
- No-no — A toddler-years pet form rather than anything that follows a child to school.
- Nova — Works the other way round too: Nova serves as the everyday short form for longer names like Novalee and Novella.
Who has carried each name
Emilia
Emilia Clarke (b. 1986) — Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen
Emilia Jones (b. 2002) — Starred in CODA, the Oscar Best Picture winner
Nova
No documented entry for Nova yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Emilia if you want…
- a name with more sound in itEmilia runs 4 syllables, Nova 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Emi, Mila and Emma
- a long American recordEmilia was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 79% for Nova
Choose Nova if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesNova is 2 syllables to Emilia's 4
- a newer arrivalNova entered the US charts in 1885
- a name that feels very nowNova is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Emilia
Strengths
- Spelled identically in Italian, Spanish and Polish, so relatives in several languages can read it without adjustment.
- A documented written record stretching from Republican Rome through Boccaccio and Shakespeare to the present day, with no long gaps.
- Ready-made short forms already in wide use — Emi, Mila, Millie, Lia — so nothing has to be invented.
To consider
- Amelia and Emily are both common, and all three sound close. Expect to spell Emilia out fairly often, and to hear it read back as Amelia.
- Its rise here is recent, so most American Emilias are still young children rather than adults — the name reads as current rather than inherited.
- Mila and Emma, two of its natural short forms, are established names on their own, so a child may meet classmates who carry them in full.
Nova
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on the first try by almost anyone literate in English.
- A real Latin word with a documented meaning, so the answer to "what does it mean?" is short and certain.
- Already in use in Scotland, Canada, and England & Wales, and pronounceable in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
To consider
- In Spanish, "no va" means "doesn't go" — the old joke about the Chevy Nova car. It rarely comes up in practice, but the name is strongest in Texas, California, and Florida, so it is worth knowing about in advance.
- Nearly everyone carrying this name right now is a small child, so it reads as very much of this moment. There are few adult Novas to grow up alongside, and the name will likely be date-stamped to this era.
- It appears on both boys' and girls' pages, but as one word-name traveling two ways rather than two separate names meeting. A boy named Nova will be the rarer case by a wide margin, and will do some explaining.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Emilia
40%chance Emilia feels dated by 2040
Emilia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Nova
79%chance Nova feels dated by 2040
Nova is coming down from a big peak (#32 in 2021). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Emilia and Nova in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Emilia and Nova?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Emilia and Nova — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Emilia or Nova — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Emilia or Nova?
- Emilia, in 2025: Emilia ranked #45 with 4,677 babies; Nova ranked #46 with 4,657 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Emilia or Nova?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Emilia moved down 4 places; Nova moved down 8 places.
- Which is the older name, Emilia or Nova?
- Emilia was already in use when US records began in 1880; Nova entered the US charts in 1885. On the American record, Emilia is the older name.
- How many people are named Emilia and Nova?
- About 65,000 people named Emilia are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 52,500 people named Nova are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Emilias or Novas in the classroom?
- Emilia will almost certainly be the only one in school. Nova will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Emilia, Nova and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap