Head to head · Girls' names
Nora vs Nova
#20 vs #46 in 2025
Nora is ahead (#20 vs #46 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Nora is climbing the charts fast, 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, Nora leads 6 measures of 6; Nova leads 0.
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: Nora #57, Nova #796 — Nora higher
- 1890s: Nora #69, Nova #716 — Nora higher
- 1900s: Nora #94, Nova #686 — Nora higher
- 1910s: Nora #141, Nova #754 — Nora higher
- 1920s: Nora #178, Nova #778 — Nora higher
- 1930s: Nora #199, Nova #856 — Nora higher
- 1940s: Nora #223, Nova #1400 — Nora higher
- 1950s: Nora #240, Nova #2016 — Nora higher
- 1960s: Nora #293, Nova #1914 — Nora higher
- 1970s: Nora #378, Nova #1668 — Nora higher
- 1980s: Nora #410, Nova #3064 — Nora higher
- 1990s: Nora #459, Nova #4304 — Nora higher
- 2000s: Nora #327, Nova #1760 — Nora higher
- 2010s: Nora #70, Nova #399 — Nora higher
- 2020s: Nora #25, Nova #37 — Nora higher
Nora stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Nora | Nova |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #57 | #796 |
| 1890s | #69 | #716 |
| 1900s | #94 | #686 |
| 1910s | #141 | #754 |
| 1920s | #178 | #778 |
| 1930s | #199 | #856 |
| 1940s | #223 | #1400 |
| 1950s | #240 | #2016 |
| 1960s | #293 | #1914 |
| 1970s | #378 | #1668 |
| 1980s | #410 | #3064 |
| 1990s | #459 | #4304 |
| 2000s | #327 | #1760 |
| 2010s | #70 | #399 |
| 2020s | #25 | #37 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Nora
- Canada#14
- France#84
- England & Wales#86
- Scotland#86
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
Nora
Depends on the longer name behind it: "honor" or "light"
Nora is a shortened form, and it has more than one parent. From Honora, the Anglo-Norman and Irish name built on Latin honor, it carries the sense of "honor". From Eleanora and Leonora it inherits those names' own unsettled history. And Arabic Nura, from nur, "light", reaches the same spelling by a completely separate road. All three are in real use, which is why no single meaning can be given for the spelling alone.
Honoria → Honora → Nóra → Nora
How it traveled
The clearest line runs through Latin Honoria and Honorata to Honora, which the Normans brought to Ireland, where it became one of the most-used women's names for centuries in the forms Nóra and Nóirín. Irish emigration carried it to America, which is why it has never been absent from US records.
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
Nora
NOR-uh
Stress on the first syllable everywhere it is used. In Irish, Nóra sounds much the same; the Arabic Nura is closer to NOO-rah, which is a different name meeting the same spelling.
- Nonie — The long-standing family pet form for Nora and Honora alike; informal, rarely written down.
- Norie — Informal, mostly spoken within the family; does not stand alone as a given name.
- No — A playground clip; useful to know it exists before someone else finds it.
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
Nora
Nora Ephron (b. 1941) — Wrote When Harry Met Sally and directed Sleepless in Seattle
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 Nora if you want…
- a name most people already know#20 in 2025, 6,380 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 10 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooNora is on the national lists of Canada, France, England & Wales and Scotland
- a long American recordNora was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Nova if you want…
- a name fewer children share#46 in 2025 — nova will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsNova is stepping back from its peak
- a newer arrivalNova entered the US charts in 1885
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
Nora
Strengths
- Spells itself. Four letters, one obvious pronunciation, no silent anything — a rare combination for a name this old.
- Unbroken presence in US records since the charts began, so it has never needed reviving and has no single decade attached to it.
- Works in French, English, Italian, Hungarian, Albanian, Arabic and the Scandinavian languages with little or no adjustment.
To consider
- Norah with an h is equally established, so she will spend her life confirming which one she is. Neither spelling is the odd one.
- The rise has been steep and is still going. A name that feels uncrowded now may be sharing the classroom register in a few years.
- It sits in a busy sound-neighborhood — Nova, Nola, Cora, Norah — and mishearings in noisy rooms are common.
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
Nora
63%chance Nora feels dated by 2040
Nora is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
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 Nora 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 Nora 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
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- all guides
Every list here names both Nora and Nova — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Nora or Nova — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Nora or Nova?
- Nora, in 2025: Nora ranked #20 with 6,380 babies; Nova ranked #46 with 4,657 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Nora or Nova?
- Nora. Over the last five years Nora moved up 10 places; Nova moved down 8 places.
- Which is the older name, Nora or Nova?
- Nora was already in use when US records began in 1880; Nova entered the US charts in 1885. On the American record, Nora is the older name.
- How many people are named Nora and Nova?
- About 134,000 people named Nora 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 Noras or Novas in the classroom?
- Nora 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 Nora, 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